Pavonia senegalensis (Cav.) Leistner
Hibiscus senegalensis Cav., Malache hirsuta (Guill. & Perr.) Kuntze, P. hirsuta Guill. & Perr.
Erect shrub, sometimes prostrate, 0.8-1.5 m in height, with a soft yellow tomentum throughout the plant. Stems erect or ascending, sometimes prostrate. Leaf blade suborbicular, or slightly 3-5 times lobed, crenate-dentate, pubescent on both sides, rounded at the base, rounded apex. Petiole 1-10 cm. Stipules 6-8 mm, subulate, caducous. Flowers 3.5-4 cm in diameter, axillary, solitary or in racemes on terminal leaves; pedicel 0.5-2 cm, accrescent in fruit. Epicalyx with 12-14 parts, 1-1.2 × 0.1 cm, linear. Calyx ± equal to the epicalyx, with triangular and acute lobes; calyx and epicalyx accrescent in fruit. Petals 3 × 2 cm, yellow with purple centre. Ovary globose, with 10 stigmas, staminal tube 1.5 cm. Fruit subglobose, 1-1.2 cm, indehiscent; mericarps 7-8 × 3-4 mm, covered with small spines. Seeds 4 × 2 mm ovate-trigonous, brown and glabrous.
Flowering:
After rainfall, in autumn-winter towards the coast of the Red Sea.
Fruiting:
Late autumn and winter.
Habitat:
Open forests, savannahs, on sandy-clayey soils, humid sands; sometimes in stony ground, wastelands, rivers and watercourses; generally in areas with a light shadow.
Distribution:
Dry areas of tropical Africa. In North Africa, it reaches the N to Sudan and the eastern Egyptian desert.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species but widely distributed. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.