Abutilon neelgerrense

Nimbalkar, Varsha Vilasrao & Sardesai, Milind Madhav, 2025, The Genus Abutilon (Malvaceae: Malvoideae) in India: A Taxonomic Revision and Insights from Micromorphology of Seeds, Systematic Botany (Basel, Switzerland) 49 (4), pp. 708-742 : 721-722

7. ABUTILON NEELGERRENSE Munro ex Wight in Ill. Ind. Bot. 1(1–8): 66. 1838. TYPE: INDIA, Andhra Pradesh, Horsley Hills, 1105 m, 25 Dec 2017, Nimbalkar 601 [Neotype: designated by Nimbalkar et al. 2018: CAL CAL0000033824!].

Shrubs 1 to 2 m tall. Stem green, hairy, matures stem brownish, glabrescent. Leaf lamina 8–15 3 4–10 cm, ovate to cordate, sometimes slightly trilobed, pale green beneath, apex acute to acuminate, 7-nerved. Petioles 8–10 cm long. Stipules 6–12 mm long, slender. Flowers 4–5 on axillary, solitary cymes, each 6–10 cm long, 3–5-flowered; flowering pedicel 8–10 mm, articulated 2–3 mm below the flower; fruiting pedicel 1–1.5 cm long, articulated 5–6 mm below the fruit. Calyx campanulate, 1–1.5 cm across, lobes ovate, 6–7 mm long, acute or shortly acuminate at apex. Corolla 1.5–2 cm across, yellow, shallow campanulate petals 5–10 3 4–8 mm, broadly obovate, truncate or sometime mucronate at apex, glandular pubescent on dorsal side. Staminal column 8–15 mm, base glabrous, tube 5–10 mm, glabrous or stellate pubescent, filaments 3–5 mm, glabrous. Ovary 4 3 3 mm, globose, 8–10- carpellary, ovules 3 per locule, stylar branches erect; stigma capitate. Schizocarps 1–1.5 3 1–1.5 cm, cylindrical, indented at apex, stellate pubescent. Mericarps 8–10 3 4–5 mm, reniform, dorsally curved, base rounded or with a notch; apical part rounded with 2–3 mm awn, erect or curved; 3-seeded. Seeds 2–2.3 3 2 mm, reniform, warted, brown, seed surface glabrous, tuft of stellate hairs at hilum, minute simple hairs may present surrounding hilum.

Etymology —Munro (MS) suggested the epithet neelgerrense based on its habitat in the ‘Neelgheris’ (Nilgiri) and Wight (1840) published the name based on Munro’ s collection and MS.

Note —Orthographic variants of the specific epithet (‘neilgherrense’, ‘neelgherrense’) which are applied in the earlier literature are suggested not to be used (Art. 60.1, ICN; Nimbalkar et al. 2018).