Abutilon theophrasti Medik.

This is a very important plant for its lustrous, white bast fibres. It is extensively cultivated in China, especially in North China (Hu, l.c.). In America this is preferred over jute and Manila hemp. Aniline dyes make its natural lusture prominent (Dastur 1951). Probably in Pakistan its qualities are not known. It may be grown in northern region of our country.

Abutilon theophrasti is extensively cultivated for its bast fibers, which are used to make string, rope, shoes, rugs, and countless other items; it is also used medicinally for fever, dysentery, and stomachaches. The fiber is known as "China Jute" or "Tientsin Jute."

Annual, 1-2 m tall velutinous herb. Leaves with 2-20 cm long petiole; stipules 5-8 mm long, caducous; blade 2-16 cm across, usually orbicular or broadly ovate, long acuminate, deeply cordate at base, minutely crenate-dentate or undulate, with 7-11 prominent nerves, velutinous-stellate hairy on both sides, more velutinous beneath. Flowers axillary, solitary or few flowered terminal raceme; pedicel 1.5-4 cm long, tomentose, articulate near the apex. Calyx c. 1 cm long, fused below the middle; lobes 4-7 mm broad, ovate or lanceolate, acuminate, stellate tomentose without, less so within. Corolla yellow; petals 1.2 cm long and broad, obovate, glabrous. Staminal column 2-4 mm long, glabrous. Ovary globose, c. 3 mm across, villous. Fruit 12-15 mm long (awns excluded), 15-20 mm broad, black.

Herbs subshrublike, annual, 1-2 m tall. Petiole 3-12 cm, stellate hairy; leaf blade orbicular-cordate, 5-10 cm in diam., both surfaces densely stellate pubescent, base cordate, margin minutely crenate, apex long acuminate. Flowers solitary, axillary, yellow. Pedicel 1-3 cm, pubescent, articulate near apex. Calyx cup-shaped, densely puberulent, lobes 5, ovate, ca. 6 mm. Corolla uniformly yellow; petals obovate, ca. 1 cm. Filament tube glabrous. Ovary 15-20-loculed, 1-1.5 cm, densely pubescent, apex truncate. Capsule semiglobose, ca. 1.2 × 2 cm; mericarps 15-20, stellate pilose, apex 2-awned, awns spreading, 3-5 mm, hairy. Seed reniform, brown, stellate puberulent. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Distribution: Native to India; introduced and fully naturalized in North America; North Asia and Westward to South Europe. It is of rare occurrence in Pakistan.

Disturbed areas, neglected fields, also cultivated. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan [India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam; Africa, SW Asia, Australia, Europe, North America].

Sida abutilon Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 685. 1753; Abutilon avicennae Gaertner, nom. illeg. superfl.; A. avicennae var. chinense Skvortsov; A. avicennae f. nigrum Skvortsov; A. californicum Bentham; A. pubescens Moench; A. theophrasti var. chinense (Skvortsov) S. Y. Hu; A. theophrasti var. nigrum (Skvortsov) S. Y. Hu; A. tiliifolium (Fischer) Sweet; S. tiliifolia Fischer.