'' Abutilon listeri '', commonly known as the lantern flower, is a tropical shrub 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 ...

or mallow

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

, an Australian territory in the north-eastern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

. Its specific epithet honours British zoologist and

plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...

Joseph Jackson Lister Joseph Jackson Lister FRS FRMS (11 January 1786 – 24 October 1869) was an amateur British opticist and physicist and the father of The 1st Baron Lister. Ancestry In 1705, Thomas Lister, a farmer and maltster, of Bingley, Yorkshire, Englan ...

, who visited the island on HMS ''Egeria'' in 1887.Flora of Australia Online.

Description

''Abutilon listeri'' is a common shrub on Christmas Island, growing to 1–3 m in height. The leaves are circular to broadly ovate, either entire or weakly

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

, and about 90–160 mm long. The yellow

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s occur in loose, terminal panicles.

Distribution and habitat

Found only on Christmas Island, the lantern flower grows in natural clearings and the rainforest margin behind the sea cliffs on the lower terraces, and is often found in secondary growth and along paths and tracks. It responds well to environmental disturbance.

Taxonomy

The lantern flower is closely related to the sympatric ''A. auritum''; both have a paniculate inflorescence and fewer than 15 mericarps.

References

Notes

Sources

* * listeri Endemic flora of Christmas Island Malvales of Australia Plants described in 1893 Taxa named by Edmund Gilbert Baker {{Malveae-stub