''Abelmoschus hostilis'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

family. It is native to

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and is known as "Kantabhendi" in Bengali.

Taxonomy

The species is sometimes treated as a synonym of ''A. tetraphyllus'' which itself is generally treated as a subspecies of '' A. manihot''. In 1874, ''Abelmoschus hostilis'' was first described as ''Hibiscus hostilis'' in ''Flora of British India'' by

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

and Maxwell T. Masters. In 2001, it was described as ''A. hostilis'' by Mohammad Mohan Salar Khan and Md.Sakhawat Hussain in ''Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy''.

Description

''Abelmoschus hostilis'' is a flowering annual

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

or undershrub. Its

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

is bristly hairy and glabrescent. Its

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are large, angular, petiolate, and in size. Petiols elongates as much as leaf-blades. Each lamina has 3–5 lobes. They are cordate, crenate to dentate. The lobes are acute. In lower leaves, the petioles are in length. Leaf surface has bristles. Stipules are ovate to lanceolate. Bracteoles are also ovate to dentate and are 5–6 in number. One of them is persistent and others are caducous. Bracteoles are shorter than the calyx and are one-fourth as long as the capsule. They are linear and more than five in number.

Peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

is and dilated at apex. Its large, bell-shaped, pale yellowish-white flowers start to occur from September. They are in diameter. Five-fold segmented

epicalyx This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

are ovate to lanceolate.

Calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

are

fusiform Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a b ...

during bud and later split on one side.

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s occur September to November. Capsule-type fruits are oblong to lanceolate. Capsules are in length and cuspidate. They have five ridges and are setose. In fruits, pedicels accrescent.

Seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s are reniform, black and glabrous.

Distribution and habitat

''Abelmoschus hostilis'' is very rare. It can be found in Bangladesh and Myanmar, growing on the loose and moist soil on the hill slopes. In Bangladesh, it is found in Rangamati district.

References

{{Authority control hostilis Flora of Bangladesh Flora of Myanmar