Abutilon theophrasti Medik., Malvaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 15 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Abutilon avicennae Gaertn.; Sida abutilon L.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: qing ma

English: American-jute, China-jute, Chingma-lantern, Indian mallow, Indian-mallow, Tientsin-jute, abutilon hemp, butterprint, buttonweed, swamp Chinese-lantern, velvetleaf, velvetweed

French: abutilon ordinaire, chanvre d'abutilon, fausse guimauve, fausse guimauve jaune, guimauve jaune, jute de Chine, jute de Manchourie, jute de Tien-Tsin

Japanese: ichibi

Spanish: cáñamo de abutilón, malva blanca, malva de terciopelo, malva grande, yute de China, yute de Ching-Ma, yute de Tien-Tsin

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Stout, annual undershrub, up to c. 1 m.  Stems, petioles, and pedicels velutinous by minute stellate hairs, occasionally also with scattered, slender, simple hairs.  Leaves large, orbicular, at base deeply cordate, often with overlapping lobes, at apex abruptly, long, narrowly acuminate, 1 1/2-18 cm long, often slightly 3-lobed, irregularly crenate to dentate or almost entire, 7-11-nerved, above velutinous by minute stellate hairs, glabrescent, beneath velutinous to tometose by minute and larger stellate hairs, on the nerves also with slender, simple hairs; petiole 1/2-30 cm.  Stipules linear to filiform, acute, c. 8 mm.  Flowers solitary, axillary, but later by the development of an accessory bud in short, few-flowered racemes.  Pedicel much shorter than the petiole, 2-5 1/2 cm, accrescent to c. 7 cm, jointed at c. 1/2 cm below apex, usually geniculate.  Calyx campanulate, c. 13 mm, slightly accrescent, 5-fid; segments ovate, acuminate, c. 8 by 4 mm, after flowering spreading to reflexed; calyx obsoletely nerved, outside velutinous to tomentose by minute stellate hairs, inside sparsely stellate-hairy.  Corolla c. 2 cm, yellow; petals widely obovate to orbicular, at apex rounded, glabrous.  Staminal column short, 2-3 mm, without tubular part, glabrous.  Mericarps 10-16, exceeding the calyx, long persistent, finally separating, reniform, c. 11 by 6 mm, at apex with 2 erecto-patent, stout, sharp, 1-5 mm long beaks, dorsally and on the beaks coarsely stellate hairy.  Seeds 1-2 per mericarp, reniform, c. 3 mm, with minute stellate hairs, especially at the hilum, black-brown"  (Borssum Waalkes, 1966; pp. 166-167).

See also the Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide for Abutilon theophrasti.

Habitat/ecology:  In Malesia, "in areas subject to a distinct dry season, except N. Sumatra, which has only a feeble dry season.  The latter is also the only place in the mountains, c. 1200 m." (Borssum Waalkes, 1966; pp. 166-167)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Subtropics of the world, probably native in the Mediterranean area, adventitious in temperate and subtropical countries" (Borssum Waalkes, 1966; pp. 166-167).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Maug Island	introduced	Ohba, T. (1994) (p. 60) Voucher cited: CBM-BS-59165
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J. (2004) (pp. 171-172)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Cultivée

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced invasive cultivated	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013) Naturalized
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 97)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013) Natualized
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced invasive cultivated	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013) Natualized
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 186)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 823) "Pasture, cultivated land".
Taiwan Taiwan Island	Taiwan Island		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)

Comments:  Found growing in Palau (November, 2002), apparently from imported chicken feed. Eradicated. (Joel Miles, pers. com.)

Control: 

Chemical: It is known to have developed resistance to many herbicides used in agriculture (Henk K. Mienis, communications to Aliens listserver).