[Sida grandifolia Willd.; Abutilon kauaiense Hochr.; A. molle (Ort.) Sweet; A. mollissimum (Cav.) Sweet var. sandwicense Hochr.]

(nat) Hairy abutilon, ma‘o

Shrubs 1—2(—3) m tall, stems, petioles, and pedicels stellate tomentose and pubes¬cent with spreading, shiny, simple hairs up to 5 mm long. Leaf blades ovate to orbicular, 8-15(-22) cm long, margins dentate, apex acuminate, base deeply cordate with lobes often overlapping, petioles 5-10(—15) cm long. Flowers solitary or 2-6 in naked cymes, exceeding the leaves, peduncles and pedicels up to 10 cm long, articulate; calyx 1.1-1.5 cm long at anthesis, lobed to near base, accrescent and loosely surrounding the fruit; corolla cup-shaped to subrotate, petals yellow to yellowish orange, 1.2-2 (-2.5) cm long, undulate-dentate apically; staminal column 5-8 mm long; style branches yellow; stigmas maroon. Schizocarp dull black, broadly urceolate-truncate, 11-14 mm long, yellowish pubescent, mericarps usually 10, thin-walled and some¬what inflated, short-beaked dorso-ven- trally. Seeds usually 3-6 per mericarp, blackish, reniform, 2-3 mm long, sparsely pubescent. [2n = 42.] A widespread tropical weed of New World origin, sometimes cultivated as an ornamental or for fiber; in Hawaii naturalized in waste areas, fields, and along roadsides, especially in arid regions, from near sea level up to 600 (-1,075) m, on Midway Atoll and all of the main islands. First collected on 0‘ahu in 1903 (Bryan s.n., BISH).—Plate 121.

The flowers of this plant may be used in lei, in place of those of Sida fallax.