Pentapetes
Pentapetes is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It contains a single species, Pentapetes phoenicea, called the noon flower and occasionally cultivated.[1] The flower is also known as "Midday Flower" or "Scarlet Mallow". This is so named as the flowers open around noon, and closes around next day early morning.
Pentapetes | |
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Pentapetes phoenicea | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Subfamily: | Dombeyoideae |
Genus: | Pentapetes L. |
Species: | P. phoenicea |
Binomial name | |
Pentapetes phoenicea | |
Synonyms | |
Scarlet Mallow, Midday/Noon Flower |
![](../I/Pentapetes_phoenicea_MHNT.BOT.2018.28.26.jpg.webp)
The plant grows around 4โ6 ft in height and the branches are long and spreading. Leaves are 6โ10 cm in length, toothed at the margins, usually having a broad base and tapering to a pointed tip. Flowers are born in the axils of the leaves with 5 large deep red colored petals. The fruit is a 5-valved, rounded, hairy capsule, about 1 centimetre in diameter. The seeds, which are not winged, occur 8โ12 in two series in each cell.
The flower is native to a wide region of tropical South Asia from Ceylon and India to northern Australia and the Philippines.