Abutilon palmeri

Palmer's abutilon

Family: Malvaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Palmer's abutilon is a California native shrub found in the southern desert regions and adjacent Peninsula Ranges, typically growing on dry, eastern-facing mountain slopes in creosote-bush scrub at elevations of 600 to 800 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces striking orange flowers 20 to 25 millimeters long with red stigmas, emerging from densely branched stems. Growing as a rounded, erect subshrub 1.5 to 2 meters tall, it is covered in distinctive stellate hairs that give it a unique texture. Its leaves are bluish-gray, densely velvety, measuring 4 to 8 centimeters long with subtle three-lobed shape and toothed edges. The plant's fruit consists of 10 bristly or soft-hairy segments, each approximately 10 millimeters long with small erect beaks.

Habitat: Uncommon. Dry, generally e-facing mountain slopes, creosote-bush scrub

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 600-800 m

Bioregions: DSon, adjacent PR, possibly introduced SCo

California counties: Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.