Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Malva tomentosa L.

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Shrubs 1-2 m tall, the stems stellate-pubescent, the hairs appressed, 0.5 mm long or less, mostly 6-8-armed.  Leaf blades mostly 2-6 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, ovate or ovate-triangular, basally truncate to subcordate and entire, otherwise prominently dentate, acute, palmately 5 (-7)-nerved, minutely and evenly stellate-pubescent above and beneath, the hairs 6-12-armed, somewhat discolorous; petioles 1/4-1/2 length of blade, stellate-pubescent; stipules 3-4 mm long, subulate, caducous.  Inflorescences in axillary and terminal glomerules (and on lateral axillary peduncles), the whole an interrupted more or less leafy spiciform inflorescence; flowers subsessile, the pedicels 2 mm long or less; involucellar bracts 3, subulate, 3-4 mm long; calyx 7-9 mm long, densely stellate-tomentose, ca half-divided; petals 6-8 mm long, yellow, prominently ciliate on margins of claw, otherwise glabrous; staminal column 3-4 mm long, pallid, stellate-pubescent; styles exceeding androecium, ca 10.  Fruits oblate, 6 mm in diameter, densely stellate-tomentose; mericarps ca 10, each with 2 dorsal spines; seeds solitary."  (Fryxell, 1992)

subsp. tomentosum: Calyx spreading in fruit; dorsal cusps on mericarps ca 1 mm long.
subsp. pautense: Calyx inrolled in fruit; dorsal cusps on mericarps ca 0.5 mm long  (Fryxell, 1992; pp. 72-75).

Habitat/ecology:  "0-1800 m elevation (ssp.tomentosum), 2400-2700 m (ssp. pautense)" (Fryxell, 1992; pp. 72-75).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil (Fryxell, 1992; pp. 72-75).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	Fryxell, PLaul A. (1992) (pp. 72-75)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	Fryxell, PLaul A. (1992) (p. 74)

Comments:  Probably not native to the Galápagos Islands, possibly introduced, per Charles Darwin Research Station.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Malvastrum tomentosum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

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

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

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Fryxell, PLaul A. 1992. Malvaceae [118.]. Flora of Ecuador 44. 142 pp.