Abutilon fruticosum Guill. & Perr.
A. denticulatum (Fresen.) Webb, A. dubium Mattei, Sida denticulata Fresen.
Ara.: Gargadan, (Egypt): qalleh, amborao. Tamahaq: Aeferoek, afaeraffar.
Perennial herbaceous plant or shrub, 0.5-1.2 m in height; the whole plant grey with stellate hairs, highly branched stems. Leaf blade up to 8 × 5 cm, ovate, greyish on both sides, denticulate margin, cordate base, apex acute to obtuse. Petiole 1.5-5 cm. Stipules 4-6 mm, subulate, caducous. Flowers 2.5-3 cm in diameter, axillary, usually solitary, sometimes in pairs; pedicel 1-4.5 cm, tomentose. Sepals 7-9 mm, lobes triangular acuminate, tomentose. Petals 1.5-1.8 cm, yellow. Staminal tube 3-4 mm. Fruit 8-9 mm, cylindrical, truncated; mericarps 8-11, 5-8 mm, pubescent, acute. Seeds 2-3 in each mericarp, c. 2 mm long, pilose, dark brown, papillose.
Flowering:
After rainfall, normally between winter and summer in the western Sahara, in winter in the Sinai Peninsula and in autumn-winter towards the coast of the Red Sea.
Fruiting:
From winter to summer.
Habitat:
On very diverse terrains, rocky, sandy, clayey, lava flows, often in alkaline soils, more common in beds and banks of rivers and wadis in dry, desert areas. From near sea level to about 1,800 m in altitude.
Distribution:
Mainly Saharo-Sindian, reaching India to the E. In North Africa it is found in the central and southern belts of the Sahara and the Sahel, reaching in the N to the SW of Morocco and the eastern desert of Egypt (to the Sinai Peninsula).
Conservation status:
Common and widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Vulnerable (VU).
