Fremontodendron mexicanum

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Endangered

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Malvaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or less often trees ; indumentum usually with peltate scales or stellate hairs . Leaves alternate, stipulate , petiolate ; leaf blade usually palmately veined, entire or various lobed . Flowers solitary, less often in small cymes or clusters , axillary or subterminal , often aggregated into terminal racemes or panicles, usually conspicuous , actinomorphic , usually bisexual (unisexual in Kydia) . Epicalyx often present, forming an involucre around calyx, 3- to many lobed. Sepals 5, valvate , free or connate . Petals 5, free, contorted, or imbricate, basally adnate to base of filament tube . Stamens usually very many, filaments connate into tube; anthers 1-celled. Pollen spiny . Ovary superior, with 2-25 carpels, often separating from one another and from axis; ovules 1 to many per locule; style as many or 2 × as many as pistils, apex branched or capitate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule or a schizocarp, separating into individual mericarps, rarely berrylike when mature (Malvaviscus) ; carpels sometimes with an endoglossum (a crosswise projection from back wall of carpel to make it almost completely septate . Seeds often reniform , glabrous or hairy , sometimes conspicuously so.

About 100 genera and ca. 1000 species: tropical and temperate regions of N and S Hemisphere; 19 genera (four introduced ) and 81 species (24 endemic, 16 introduced) in China.

Molecular studies have shown that the members of the Bombacaceae, Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Tiliaceae form a very well-defined monophyletic group that is divided into ten also rather well-defined clades, only two of which correspond to the traditional families Bombacaceae and Malvaceae. Some of the remaining groups are included entirely within either of the remaining families but others cut across the traditional divide between the Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae. A majority of authors , most notably Bayer and Kubitzki (Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 5: 225-311. 2003), has favored including everything within a greatly enlarged Malvaceae, and treating the individual clades as subfamilies. The alternative view is that the individual clades should be treated as a series of ten families: Bombacaceae (Bombacoideae), Brownlowiaceae (Brownlowioideae), Byttneriaceae (Byttnerioideae), Durionaceae (Durionoideae), Helicteraceae (Helicteroideae), Malvaceae (Malvoideae), Pentapetaceae (Dombeyoideae), Sparrmanniaceae (Grewioideae), Sterculiaceae (Sterculioideae), and Tiliaceae (Tilioideae) (Cheek in Heywood et al. , Fl. Pl. Fam. World. 201-202. 2007) . For the present treatment, we prefer to retain the familiar, traditional four families, so as to maintain continuity with the treatments in FRPS, and to await a consensus on the two alternative strategies for dealing with the very widely accepted clades.

The traditional Malvaceae coincides exactly with one of the major clades. The only possible problem is the relationship with the Bombacaceae, which also has primarily 1-loculed anthers, and some authorities have suggested that the Bombacaceae should be included within the Malvaceae.

Members of the Malvaceae are important as fiber crops (particularly cotton, Gossypium) . Young leaves of many species can be used as vegetables, and species of Abelmoschus and Hibiscus are grown as minor food crops. Many species have attractive flowers and an ever-increasing selection is grown as ornamentals . Several have been cultivated for a very long time, particularly species of Hibiscus, and some of these are not known in the wild.[1]

Physical Description

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 10-12' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.6 • Maximum pH: 8.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Fremontia mexicana (A. Davids.) J. F. Macbr. • Fremontia californica Torr. var. mexicana (Davidson) Jeps.

Notes

Publishing author : Davidson Publication : Bull . S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 16: 50 1917

Similar Species

Members of the genus Fremontodendron

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

F. californicum (California Flannel Bush) · F. decumbens (Pine Hill Flannel Bush) · F. mexicanum (Mexican Flannel Bush) · F. 'California Glory' (Flannel Bush) · F. 'Pacific Sunset' (Flannel Bush) · F. 'San Gabriel' (Flannel Bush)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
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• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• 1997 IUCN red list of threatened plants Cambridge: IUCN, World Conservation Union, 1998 url p. 576.
• A flora of California, by Willis Linn Jepson. San Francisco, Calif., Cunningham, Curtis & Welch, 1909- url p. 507.
• Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Los Angeles, Calif.: The Academy, 1902-1971. url p. 50.
• Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 44 1917 New York: Torrey Botanical Club, 1870-1996 url p. 559.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 23 1920-1926 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 797.
• Leaflets of western botany. San Fransisco:[J. T. Howell], 1932-1966. url p. 119.
• Native woody plants of the United States, their erosion-control and wildlife values. Washington, U. S. Govt. print. off., 1938. url p. 133.
• Plants for California landscapes: a catalog of drought tolerant plants. [Sacramento, Calif.]: State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Water Resources, [1979] url p. 60.
• Trees and shrubs of Mexico / By Paul C. Standley. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1920-1926. url p. 797.
• World Plant Conservation Bibliography WCMC, Royal Botanic Gardens url p. 636.
• Feng Kuo-mei. 1984. Malvaceae. In: Feng Kuo-mei, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 49(2): 1-102.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 02, 2008:

• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2647602
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-21581
• GRIN Nomen Number: 400889
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 21581
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 105969-2
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDSTE03020
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Identifier: Q2OZ
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: FRME3
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 39926

Footnotes

1. Ya Tang, Michael G. Gilbert & Laurence J. Dorr "Malvaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 240, 264,299, 302. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.