Common name: Lobed Leaf Mallow • Marathi: Lahan Jaswand • Telugu: Atakanara
Botanical name: Hibiscus lobatus Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Solandra lobata, Hibiscus solandra
Lobed Leaf Mallow is an annual herb, erect, 50-70 cm tall. Branchlets hairy. Stipules lance-like, to 3 mm, villous; petiole as long as or slightly longer than leaf blade. Leaf blade is membranous, dimorphic - blades on proximal part of stem ovate-circular, 1.5-3 cm, those in middle 3-parted, to 5 cm, on distal part of stem nearly divided or 3-foliate, margin roundly dentate. Flowers solitary or arranged in sparse racemes, axillary. Pedicel 2-2.5 cm. Pseudo-sepals (epicalyx), which are generally present in all Hibiscus, are absent. Sepal-tube cup-shaped, to 4 mm, membranous, lobes 5, lanceolate, abaxially pilose and strigose, persistent. Flowers white or yellow; petals 0.6-0.7 cm. Staminal column to 0.4 cm. Styles 5, extending. Capsule broadly ovoid, 7 mm, apex beaked; mericarps 5, endocarp thin, villous along ventral suture. Seeds with scalelike hairs. Lobed Leaf Mallow is native to Tropical Africa, Madagascar, and tropical Asia. Flowering: August-October
