Monday, 25 February 2008

Herrisantia crispa?

I've just received an email with a request for identification, of a couple of photographs of a plant from Key Largo.

It's not a species that I immediately recognise, but it's something in Abutilinae, and on first thought I suspected an Abutilon of some description. However after a little digging around the US malviflora I now suspect Herissantia crispa. Can anyone confirm or correct?

Update: Professor Fryxell confirms that it is Herissantia crispa.

First picture - assorted fruits and leaves

Second picture - a lonely flower

Sunday, 24 February 2008

February Comment Thread

For general comments and questions related to Malvaceae from anyone.

February Frosts

In the middle of February there were a few nights with hard, penetrating, frost (5-8 degrees Celsius of frost). I won't know for a while how much damage has been done, but a few plants from my collection are looking unhappy - a Lavatera × clementii 'Candy Floss' (which may be the tenderest of the common cultivars), one (of several) Alcalthaea × suffrutescens 'Park Rondell', some small Malva dendromorpha (Lavatera arborea) seedlings, and an Abutilon 'Kentish Belle'.

Some Malva 'Bicolor' and Malva 'Princesse de Lignes' looked sick for a few days, but have recovered.

Over at the allotment I think that the cold spell saw off a few more "Eumalvas".

Introduction

For some years I have been presenting and extending a web site on the Malvaceae or Mallow Family, a family of flowering plants, firstly at space provided by my ISP, and subsequently at the domain www.malvaceae.info. The scope of that site is the Malvaceae sensu APG, that is not only mallows, abutilons, cottons and hibiscuses, but also the great majority of plants formerly classified in Bombacaceae, Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae.

This blog is created for publishing material that is of too ephemeral a nature to fit comfortably within the structure of the web site, and for communication with the readers of the website.