Comments
provided by eFloras
It is cultivated in Pakistan for fibre which is white, soft and silkys. In quality it is said to be equal to jute and may be employed for all purposes for which jute is suitable. The seeds are fed to cattle and poultry, and sometimes oil is extracted which is useful as a lubricant. Various parts are also said to be medicinally important.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Comments
provided by eFloras
The fleshy calyx and epicalyx are edible, both fresh as a vegetable and dried as a tea.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Description
provided by eFloras
An annual or perennial, simple or branched herb. Stem with sparse, simple, bulbous, spiny hairs. Blade ovate and not lobed in the lowermost part, in the upper part 3-7 partite; lobes elliptic-lanceolate, coarsely serrate, nearly glabrous on both sides; stipules 6-8 mm long, filiform; petiole 4-15 cm long, almost somewhat spiny near the top. Flowers axillary, solitary, subsessile; epicalyx segments 7-8, linear, 6-10 mm long, sparsely prickly. Calyx fused at the base, 1-2.5 cm long, wooly, also setose or prickly, lobes long acuminate-aristate, with a swollen, linear gland on the central nerve at the base. Corolla yellow with a crimson centre, 3-5 cm across; petals obovate, 4-6 cm long, 2-4 cm broad. Staminal column inserted. Capsule 1.5-2 cm long, c. 1 cm across, conical, beaked, appressed-setose. Seeds many, 2-3 mm long, brown.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Description
provided by eFloras
Herbs annual, erect, to 2 m tall; stems purplish, robust, glabrous. Stipules filiform, ca. 1 cm, sparsely villous; petiole 2-8 cm, sparsely villous; leaf blade dimorphic; blades on proximal part of stem ovate, those on distal part of stem palmately 3-lobed, lobes lanceolate, 2-8 × 0.5-1.5 cm, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin serrate, apex obtuse or acuminate, glabrous; basal veins 3-5, glanduliferous along midrib on abaxial surface. Flowers solitary, axillary, subsessile. Epicalyx lobes 8-12, red, lanceolate, connate at base, 5-15 × 2-3 mm, sparsely long hirsute, with spiny appendix near apex. Calyx purplish, cup-shaped, connate for ca. 1/3 length, ca. 1 cm in diam., fleshy, sparsely spiny and coarsely hairy, lobes 5, triangular, 1-2 cm, acuminate. Corolla yellow with dark red center, 6-7 cm in diam. Capsule ovoid-globose, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., densely coarsely hairy. Seeds reniform, glabrous. Fl. summer-autumn.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Distribution
provided by eFloras
Of unknown origin. Cultivated in the tropics.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Distribution
provided by eFloras
Distribution: It is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is difficult to state its native home.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Elevation Range
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1000-1500 m
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Habitat & Distribution
provided by eFloras
Cultivated. Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [probably originating in Africa, now cultivated throughout the tropics].
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Synonym
provided by eFloras
Sabdariffa rubra Kosteletzky.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA