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)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: qing ma

English: abutilon hemp, butterprint, buttonweed, China-jute, Indian mallow, Indian-mallow, Tientsin-jute, velvetleaf, velvetweed

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 Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide.

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. (2011) 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)	native	Zheng, Hao/Wu, Yun/Ding, Jianqing/Binion, Denise/Fu, Weidong/Reardon, Richard (2004) (p. 1)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 97)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	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".

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).

Additional information:
NebGuide on velvetleaf (contains control information).
Information from "Invasive plants of Asian origin established in the United States and their natural enemies, volume 1" (PDF format).

Additional online information about Abutilon theophrasti is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Abutilon theophrasti as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Abutilon theophrasti may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Borssum Waalkes, J. V. 1966. Malesian Malvaceae revised. Blumea 14.

Florence, J. 2004. Flore de la Polynésie française, Vol. 2. Paris. IRE Editions, Publications Scientifiques, Collection Faune et Flore Tropicales 41. 503 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Ohba, T. 1994. Flora and vegetation of the northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia. Biological Expedition to the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia. In A. Asakua & T. Furuki, eds.  Natural History Research, Special issue no. 1, Chiba, Japan: Natural History Museum and Institute. pp. 13-69.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zheng, Hao/Wu, Yun/Ding, Jianqing/Binion, Denise/Fu, Weidong/Reardon, Richard. 2004. Invasive plants of Asian origin established in the United States and their natural enemies, volume 1. FHTET-2004-05. U.S. Forest Service, Morgantown.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).