Abutilon theophrasti Medik.

Herb, annual, the stem erect, 0.3-1.2 m high, more or less tomentose, the hairs simple and/or stellate. Leaves long-petiolate, the petiole rather slender, usually longer than the blade, more or less tomentose, the stipules early caducous; blade broadly ovate to subeircular to very broadly ovate, deeply cordate at the base, more or less abruptly long-acuminate at the apex, crenulate or crenate-dentate at the margin, up to 20 cm broad, chartaceous, slightly discolor, 7-to 9-palminerved, puberulus and usually with stellate hairs on both surfaces but the indumentum usually softer and denser beneath, the veins prominent beneath. Flowers axillary and solitary, or in a few-flowered, leafy, terminal panicle, the pedicels shorter than the petioles, articulate usually above the middle, tomentose; calyx broadly campanulate, ca 10 mm long, tomentose, lobed to far beyond the middle, the lobes patent at anthesis, ovate and acute, accrescent; petals patent at anthesis, oblong-obovate, ca 10-13 mm long, yellow or orange, glabrous at the insertion of the staminal tube; androecium shorter than the calyx and corolla, the staminal tube much inflated, glabrous. Fruit broadly cylindric, umbilicate, villous to densely pubescent, the mericarps about 15, 12-15 mm long (awns excluded), long-aristate at the apex, the awns widely spreading and ca 3-5 mm long, rounded at the base, rigid-chartaceous, 3-seeded; seeds ca 3.5-4 mm long, inconspicuously foveolate and minutely puberulus.

It grows in Mediterranean climates. It needs full sun and a fertile well drained soil. It can grow with a pH in the range 5 to 8.2. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

The unripe seeds are eaten raw or cooked. The ripe seeds are ground into flour and used in soups and bread. Old seeds are washed to remove the bitter taste then sun dried and made into flour.

Plants are grown from seed. They germinate in 2-3 weeks. They can be put in a nursery and transplanted. In warm places seeds can be sown directly where they are to grow.