Tag: Abutilum longicuspe

Bloom Day in December

Cindy at enclos*ure5 Comments

Today, I took a closer look at my Abutilon or Chinese Lantern bushes.

Closeup of yellow Abutilon.

Compared to many of the other tropical or semitropical plants in the garden, the Abutilon are rather quiet.  The flowers are neat and smallish and hang down like bells.

Abutilon are also sometimes called Flowering Maples because of their leaves.
This variety has white blooms with pink veins.
A closeup.
A showier bush with reddish-orange blooms.
A reddish-orange bloom.
Closed blooms.
A white flowered Abutilon.

This bush has variegated leaves and is rather overshadowed by a pink Brugmansia or Angel’s Trumpet.

An Abutilon with variegated leaves beside a Brugmansia.
A coral bloom.  Another name for the bush is Chinese Bell Flower.
Closeup of a coral flower.

I think my bushes are Abutilon x hybridum, descended from South American varieties and brought here by expats.  Rwanda has one native variety, Abutilon bidentatum Hochst. ex A. Rich., which is not very showy.

Abutilon bidentatum.  Photo via http://westerndesertflora.geolab.cz.

Another species, Abutilon longicuspe, with purple flowers, is also native to east and central Africa.

Please visit May Dreams Gardens for more Bloom Day postings (the 15th of every month).

Abutilon longicuspe.  Photo via http://database.prota.org.