Japanese name: エノキアオイ（榎葵） Scientific name:Malvastrum coromandelianum
[Overview]
A perennial about 80 cm tall, found in sunny grasslands and along roadsides.
The whole plant bears appressed hairs.
The stem is erect.
The leaves are simple and alternate, long ovate to lanceolate, 2–8 cm long and 1–3.5 cm wide, with irregular blunt teeth on the margins.
The leaf stalks are 1.5–4 cm long.
One or two pale yellow flowers with 5 petals, about 1.3 cm across, are borne in the leaf axils.
The flower stalks are 5 mm long.
The fruit is 6–7 mm across and divides into 10–12 mericarps.
The seeds are kidney-shaped.
[History]
It has naturalized widely in tropical to subtropical regions, beginning with Southeast Asia.
In Japan, too, it naturalized in early times in the Nansei Islands and the Ogasawara Islands, and it has also been confirmed on Honshu.
