Abutilon indicum
(country mallow)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet

Preferred Common Name

• country mallow

Other Scientific Names

• Abutilon asiaticum (L.) Sweet
• Abutilon badium S.A. Husain and Baquar
• Abutilon cavaleriei H.Lév.
• Abutilon cysticarpum Hance ex Walp.
• Abutilon indica
• Abutilon indicum var. microphyllum Hocr.
• Abutilon indicum var. populifolium (Lam.) Wight and Arn.
• Abutilon indicum var. populifolium Wight and Arn. ex Mast
• Abutilon populifolium (Lam.) G.Don
• Abutilon populifolium (Lam.) Sweet
• Sida asiatica L.
• Sida indica L.
• Sida populiflora Lam.

International Common Names

• English: Indian abutilon; Indian mallow; monkey bush; moon-flower
• Spanish: Malva amarilla
• French: fausse guimauve; gimauve; guimauve fausse satinee; herbe de douze heures; mauve du pays
• Chinese: mo pan cao

Local Common Names

• Cambodia: dok toc lai
• Cuba: botón de oro; botoncillo de oro; buenas tardes; doce del día; malva blanca
• Germany: Indische Schoenmalve
• Haiti: mauve élantine
• India: atibala; duvvena Kayalu; kanghi; kattooram; ooram; paniyaratutti; petari; potari; soluku poo; thuthi; tutththi gida; tutti; tuturabenda; velluram
• Indonesia: belangan sumpa; cemplok; kecil
• Italy: fiore di dodici ore
• Laos: houk phao ton
• Lesser Antilles: guimauve; mauve; monkey bush
• Malaysia: bunga kisar; kembang lohor
• Montserrat: burry bark
• Philippines: dalupang; tabing
• Puerto Rico: buenas tardes
• Thailand: khrop fan see; ma kong khaao; phong phaang
• Vietnam: coosi xay; dawfng xay

EPPO code

• ABUIN (Abutilon indicum)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Malvales
•                         Family: Malvaceae
•                             Genus: Abutilon
•                                 Species: Abutilon indicum

Abutilon is a genus of herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, or small trees of about 200 species, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions (Flora of China Editorial Committee, 2015). The common names for Abutilon indicum that are most used are country mallow, and for India Kanghi (Hindi) and Atibala (Sanskrit). The species may be truly native to India (PROTA, 2015), hence another widely used name of Indian mallow or Indian abutilon.

The following description is from Flora of China Editorial Committee (2015):

Herbs to subshrubs, annual or perennial, erect, many branched, 1-2.5 m, entire plant gray puberulent. Stipules subulate, 1-2 mm, curved outward; petiole 2-4 cm, gray puberulent and sparsely hairy, hairs silky, ca. 1 mm; leaf blades ovate-orbicular or nearly orbicular, 3-9 × 2.5-7 cm, densely gray stellate puberulent, base cordate, margin irregularly serrate, apex acute or acuminate. Flowers solitary, axillary, 2-2.5 cm in diam. Pedicel ca. 4 cm, articulate near apex, gray stellate puberulent. Calyx green, disk-shaped, 6-10 mm in diam., densely gray puberulent, lobes 5, broadly ovate, apex acute. Corolla uniformly yellow; petals 7-8 mm. Staminal column stellate scabrous. Ovary 15-20-loculed. Fruit black, flat topped, ca. 1.5 cm in diam.; mericarps 15-20, apex acute, slightly awned, long stellate scabrous. Seeds reniform, sparsely stellate.

A. indicum was probably introduced into the Americas in the 1800’s or early 1900’s (Lagerheim, 1891; Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, 1893; Hasherger 1903; Arthur and Johnston, 1918; Missouri Botanical Garden, 2015), although it is sometimes listed as native for some of the countries of this region. For the West Indies it is reported as introduced in the early 1800’s, but in some databases is also reported as native for some of the islands. It is reported as invasive for Cuba (Oviedo-Prieto et al., 2012). The region where A. indicum is most listed as an invasive is Oceania, on Kiribati, Guam, French Polynesia, the US Minor Outlying Islands and Fiji. For some of these islands the species is also reported as cultivated. Although it is reported as invasive for Hawaii, it is noted as mainly cultivated and occasionally naturalized (PIER, 2015).

There is almost no information available on how A. indicum was introduced to various regions or how it has spread. Since it has been used extensively in ethnobotany for centuries in its native range, it can be assumed it was mainly introduced into other areas as a medicinal plant, as it is reported to be used by natives in countries outside its probable original range (Mitchell, 1982; Mohite et al., 2013; PIER 2015). Also outside its native range, there are reports of the use of its fibres for rope-making (Maiti and Chakravarty, 1977; Fuentes Fiallo, 1999; Brussell, 2004). 

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• light

Special soil tolerances

• saline

In India, A. indicum is one of the hosts for the red cotton bug, Dysdercus koeniggii, which is considered to be a minor pest on cotton, eggplant, okra and Hibiscus (Wadnerkar et al., 1979). A. indicum plants infested with Earias insulana and E. vitella near cotton fields could carry the infestation into the crops (Saini and Singh, 1999; Syed et al., 2011).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Is a habitat generalist
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year

• Negatively impacts agriculture

• Allelopathic
• Pest and disease transmission

Mohite et al. (2012) and Vadnere Gautam et al. (2013) give detailed reviews on the microscopic, phytochemical and pharmacological properties and uses of A. indicum. This includes: hepatoprotective, wound healing, immunomodulatory, analgesic, antimalarial, antimicrobial and hypoglycemic activity, among others. Almost all the parts of this plant are documented as being used. It is used by natives of India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indochina. In India it is also reported as used by the Santals tribe to treat convulsions, cramps, colic pain, spermatorrhoea, dysentery, tuberculosis, coughs, bronchitis and menorrhagia in humans and bone fracture in cattle (Jain and Tarafder, 1970). Similar uses are reported for the Nicobarese tribe in India (Dagar and Dagar, 1991). Mathur and Sundaramoorthy (2013) report 18 pharmacological properties and nine body systems treated by the use of this species. Seetharam et al. (2002) report that extracts from A. indicum administered to rats stimulate insulin production causing blood glucose levels to drop. Men in Gujrat, India use the species as an aphrodisiac (Prabhuji et al., 2010). A. indicum is one of the sources of the drug “Bala”, sold in markets in India and used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine to treat various ailments (Deokule and Patale, 2002).

Due to its importance as a medicinal plant in India, studies had been made on A. indicum to establish the protocols for regenerating large number of plantlets in vitro from leaf derived callus cultures. These protocols are the first steps to establish large scale propagation of this species (Rout et al., 2009). In Pakistan, where rearing livestock accounts for 30-40% of income, A. indicum is one of the native species suggested for planting and/or reseeding to improve grazing lands for goats and sheep (Rafiq et al., 2010).

In Australia, A. indicum is used as food, timber and reported to have demulcent properties (Mitchell, 1982). It is also used for its fibres in various countries (Maiti and Chakravarty, 1977; Fuentes Fiallo, 1999; Brussell, 2004).

A. indicum has been studied for the development of botanical pesticides and extracts from the leaves are a feeding deterrent to the tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Elumalai et al., 2008). Prabhuji et al. (2010) report a steroidal compound isolated from the stems of A. indicum with fungicidal and fungistatic properties against various Aspergillus species.

Mathur and Sundaramoorthy (2013) assessed the economic impact and conservation priorities of 123 medicinal plants from the Thar Desert in India. For A. indicum they reported the species not being in cultivation and being highly harvested from the wild due to its medicinal importance. They propose that the species needs to have an immediate conservation priority.

Social Benefit

In India where fluoride contamination related diseases occur in near to 62 million people, A. indicum stems are used to prepare nitric acid activated carbon to remove fluoride ions from contaminated water (Suneetha et al., 2014).

Environmental Services

A. indicum has been suggested as a potential candidate species to be used for the phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils (Varum et al., 2015).

A. indicum is reported as one of the plants which the nymphs of Aularches miliaris feed on. Although this grasshopper is reported as a pest for some crops, it is also listed as a near-threatened species in South India and its conservation is recommended (Josephrajkimar et al., 2011).

Rahuman et al. (2008) tested the larvicidal activity on Culex quinquefasciatus and found high larval mortality when using petroleum ether extract from A. indicum. They also report the presence of β-sitosterol for A. indicum as a new natural mosquito larvicidal agent. Hexane leaf extracts are reported to be effective against the larvae of Aedes aegypti (Tennyson et al., 2012). Previous studies in Thailand showed that A. indicum extracts show potential larval toxicity for Aedes aegyptii and high toxicity to guppy fishes (Promsiri et al., 2006).