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Malvaceae family

Greenflower Indian Mallow Abutilon sandwicense

Native
Also known as: Green-flowered abutilon

Greenflower Indian Mallow is a perennial shrub native to Hawaii.

More about this plant

Abutilon sandwicense, commonly known as the greenflower Indian mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae, that is endemic to the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii, in the United States. It inhabits dry forests on the slopes of the Waiʻanae Range at elevations of 400–600 m (1,300–2,000 ft). Associated plants include lama, ēlama, māmaki, kalia, āulu, olopua, and alaheʻe. Greenflower Indian mallow is a shrub, reaching a height of 1.5–3 m (4.9–9.8 ft). It is threatened by habitat loss. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Foliage
Lifespan
Perennial
Foliage
Broadleaf
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~5 caterpillar species

Abutilon supports ~5 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus for introduced plants — native genera typically support far more.

Recorded feeding on Abutilon in North America, including:

Anomis erosa · Yellow Scallop Moth Celotes limpia · Scarce Streaky-Skipper Celotes nessus · Common Streaky-Skipper Chionodes mariona · twirler moth Crocidosema plebejana · leafroller moth Helicoverpa zea · Corn Earworm
+ 6 more species →
Heliopetes lavianus · skipper butterfly Mimoschinia rufofascialis · Rufous-Banded Crambid Papaipema nebris · Stalk Borer Pectinophora gossypiella · twirler moth Pyrgus oileus · Tropical Checkered Skipper Systasea pulverulenta · Texas Powdered-Skipper
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
How we know this (1) Methods & honest limits
Photosynthesis Direct fact

A recorded categorical fact: each species is tagged C3 (standard), C4 (heat/water-efficient) or CAM (succulent, night-time CO₂ uptake) — or a facultative combination. We only show a trait card for the noteworthy C4/CAM cases; C3 is the unremarkable majority, kept in the data but not surfaced as a card.

Kattge, J. et al. TRY plant trait database — Categorical Traits Dataset (2012).
Derived values are computed from open data by a published method — labelled, cited, and never shown as a direct observation. Full methodology →
Sources for this entry (16) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[08] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[09] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[10] Federal ESA status — USFWS ECOS (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
[12] Photosynthetic pathway — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)
[13] Other common names — Wikidata (CC0)
[14] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[15] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[16] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.
Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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