FNPS Plant Database

Abutilon hulseanum

mauve

  • ©Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter

  • ©Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter

  • ©Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter

  • ©Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter

  • ©Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter

Photographs belong to the photographers who allow use for FNPS purposes only. Please contact the photographer for all other uses.

Nomenclature

Common Name:

mauve

Synonym(s):

Sida huselana

Genus species:

Abutilon hulseanum

Family:

Malvaceae

Plant Specifics

Form:

shrub

Size:

Up to about 7ft tall, rangy unless cut back periodically. Somewhat shrubby but not really woody.

Life Span:

short-lived perennial

Flower Color:

orange-y pink

Fruit Color:

brown

Phenology:

Blooms late winter, early spring.

Noted For:

Showy Flowers

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:

Considerations:

Noted for being weedy.

Availability:

Native Plant Nurseries, Seed

Propagation:

Easily grown from seed. Can be bought from several native nurseries. Will spread.

Light:

Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture Tolerance:

Always Flooded------------------------------------------------Extremely Dry

---|----|----|----|----|----|----|---- <----|----|----|-> --|-

Not wet but not extremely dry ---to--- Somewhat long very dry periods

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Unknown

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Some tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray.

Soil or Other Substrate:

Clay, Sand

Soil pH:

slightly acidic to calcareous

Suitable to Grow In:

9B, 9A, 11, 10B, 10A

USDA zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature.



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Ecology

Wildlife:

Butterflies, Pollinators

Native Habitats:

Disturbed. Old orange groves, pasture, roadsides. May occur naturally along the west FL coast including shell mounds and dunes . All records for inland areas are from disturbed sites, predominantly old orange groves and pastures.

Natural Range in Florida:

Comments:

Ethnobotany:

No known uses.

General Comments:

According to Kew Gardens, it is from Central America and probably Cuba and Florida. After going through the photos and labels for specimens in the SIEnet database, the only occurrences in Florida that were convincingly in natural systems (as opposed to highly disturbed areas) were on shell mounds, dunes, and similar coastal areas. Hence, the range map provided highlights the counties along the west coast that have these. Noted as invasive and weedy on many herbarium specimen labels. Where not native, we should think of it as invasive.

Citations:

Kew Plants of the World On Line. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60467477-2 , accessed 2025. Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Richmond, England.


Gann GD, Abbott CJ, Stocking CG, Hines KN, and Collaborators. Natives For Your Neighborhood. https://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Abuthuls , accessed 2025. The Institute for Regional Conservation. Delray Beach, Florida. 


SIEnet. https://swbiodiversity.org/. Has photographs of specimens from many herbaria.


Wunderlin, R. P., B. F. Hansen, A. R. Franck, and F. B. Essig. 2023. Atlas of Florida Plants ( https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/ ).

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