Malvaviscus arboreus Cav.
Turk's-cap
Spreading shrub to 2-(3) m high, often spreading vegetatively by layering. Stems densely clothed in stellate hairs. Lvs densely clothed in stellate hairs, velvety to touch, ovate to suborbicular, cordate, acute to acuminate, not lobed or shallowly 3-lobed, crenate-serrate, c. 5-15 cm long; petioles c. 2-12 cm long; stipules lanceolate, 3-8 mm long, deciduous. Fls axillary, solitary or few in fascicles; pedicels 10-30 mm long; epicalyx segments 7-9, linear, united for lower ?-1/4, somewhat < or ± = calyx; calyx tubular, clothed in stellate hairs; calyx teeth ciliate, triangular, much < tube; petals scarlet, 20-35 mm long. Fr. fleshy, red, 1-3 cm diam.
N.: Otakura (Northland), Little Barrier Id, Auckland City, Gisborne City.
Tropical and subtropical America 1981
Waste places.
FL Jun-Feb.
Turk's-cap occurs as an occasional escape from cultivation. Wild plants can all be referred to var. arboreus. Var. penduliflorus (DC.) Schery, which is naturalised in the tropical Pacific, is now being cultivated in N.Z. It is distinguished by the large pendulous fls, 42-65 mm long.
The short-toothed calyx and long-toothed epicalyx distinguish M. arboreus from all other N.Z. Malvaceae (Fig. 80). The folded corolla, which forms a tube, does not open as in most Malvaceae; this is an adaptation to hummingbird pollination. It would be of interest to know what the pollinator is for N.Z. plants. Malvaviscus is the only fleshy-fruited genus in the Malvaceae.
