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Abutilon incanum; photograph (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-04

Abutilon incanum (Link) Sweet

Indian mallow; Shrubby Indian mallow

Malvaceae · Colorado, Arizona +4

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Abutilon incanum, photograph (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abutilon incanum, photograph (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abutilon incanum, photograph (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abutilon incanum, photograph (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY)Abutilon incanum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAbutilon incanum, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 100 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
2.0°C
Record low -1.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
35°C
Jun and Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
328mm
4 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
23–52DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes December to January and July to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Abutilon incanum, also known as hoary abutilon, pelotazo, pelotazo chico, tronadora, and maʻo (Hawaiʻi), is a shrub widespread throughout the arid, warm regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico as well as Hawaiʻi.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Abutilon incanum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Abutilon

Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor maple, or flowering maple. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Abutilon", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (206 mm of 290 mm) falls in December to January and July to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.8 °C against a yearly mean of 21.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and June to July.

Rain

290 mm in the median year at the habitat, 206 mm of it December to January and July to September. Wettest month September at 59 mm, driest months (2 at 3 mm); 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 181 mm to 746 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 328 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 290 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 52 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 2.0 °C, the absolute minimum -1.8 °C, 24 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 7.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 2.8 °C to 15.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 34.8 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 42 to 53% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +569 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Abutilon incanum through the yearWarmest months June and July, mean daily high 35 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 7.7 °C; 290 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost35.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 23–52RH 42–53%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 547 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 16–2521 / 18–2624 / 21–2827 / 24–3231 / 28–3535 / 30–3835 / 31–3934 / 31–3833 / 30–3629 / 26–3224 / 20–2820 / 16–25
Night °C8 / 3–169 / 4–1611 / 6–1714 / 10–1918 / 14–2122 / 19–2525 / 21–2725 / 21–2722 / 18–2617 / 13–2312 / 7–208 / 3–17
Rain mm24 / 16–4319 / 7–4413 / 3–446 / 1–163 / 0–223 / 1–5939 / 14–13658 / 34–12959 / 21–12923 / 11–6917 / 8–3126 / 14–42
DLI26 / 21–2931 / 27–3541 / 37–4348 / 46–4952 / 49–5352 / 44–5447 / 41–4943 / 39–4439 / 34–4034 / 31–3628 / 23–3123 / 19–27
RH %50 / 46–5849 / 44–5746 / 41–5542 / 37–5442 / 35–5743 / 33–5750 / 41–6053 / 44–6253 / 42–6249 / 41–5848 / 43–5851 / 46–58
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 547 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1078 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1232:1329 (28.375, -113.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 547 distinct grid cells holding 1078 of the 1080 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1232:1329 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected +569 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 890 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeColorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest · introduced: Hawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker32.645, -111.427 · in the densest population, 661 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1375 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1078 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1080 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 728 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 147 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 295 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1375 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Abutilon incanum, photograph 1did not loadAbutilon incanum, photograph 2did not loadAbutilon incanum, photograph 3did not loadAbutilon incanum, photograph 4did not loadAbutilon incanum, photograph 5did not loadAbutilon incanum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Proboscidea althaeifolia Proboscidea althaeifolia Desert unicorn-plant Photo: CC BY, Jose Luis Leon de la Luz Agave pelona Asparagaceae Agave zebra Zebra Agave Datura discolor Datura discolor Desert thorn-apple Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanPhysalis acutifolia Physalis acutifolia Wright's ground-cherry Photo: CC BY, Sula VanderplankAmbrosia ambrosioides Ambrosia ambrosioides Big bursage Photo: CC BY, Bruce Hartman

Other Abutilon 29 in the reference

Abutilon abutiloides Abutilon abutiloides Bushy abutilon Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanAbutilon angulatum Abutilon angulatum Malvaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAbutilon auritum Abutilon auritum Asian Indian mallow Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg Tasney Abutilon densiflorum Malvaceae Abutilon eremitopetalum Abutilon eremitopetalum Hiddenpetal Indian mallow Photo: CC BY, Forest & Kim StarrAbutilon fruticosum Abutilon fruticosum Texas Indian mallow Photo: CC BY, Jackie TAbutilon grandiflorum Abutilon grandiflorum Hairy Indian Mallow Photo: CC0, author not statedAbutilon grandifolium Abutilon grandifolium Hairy Indian mallow Photo: CC BY, Pablo H CapovillaAbutilon hirtum Abutilon hirtum Florida Keys Indian mallow Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaAbutilon hulseanum Abutilon hulseanum Mauve Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaAbutilon hypoleucum Abutilon hypoleucum Rio Grande Abutilon Photo: CC0, author not statedAbutilon indicum Abutilon indicum Indian abutilon Photo: CC BY, Wolfgang Ahlmer all 30 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Abutilon incanum subsp. incanum; Abutilon incanum subsp. pringlei; Abutilon mochisense; Abutilon pringlei; Abutilon pringlei var. sinaloense and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
(Link) Sweet
Native to
Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico +3
Wild records
1375 in range · 728 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 35 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (27 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected +569 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 86 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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