Midday Flower (Pentapetes phoenicea)
October 19, 2007 — Vasant M. SalianMidday Flower (Pentapetes phoenicea) is an erect, half-woody plant, 0.5-1 m in height. The branches are long and spreading. Then leaves are alternate, linear, 6-10 cm in length, toothed at the margins, usually having the broad, pointed base, and tapering to a pointed tip. Scarlet flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves with 5 large, deep rose, and show petals.
The flowers, 2.5-3.5 cm across, open around noon, and close the following dawn. The fruit is a 5-valved, rounded, hairy capsule, about 1 centimetre in diameter. The seeds, which are not winged, occur 8-12 in two series in each cell. Pentapetes is native to a wide region of tropical South Asia from Ceylon and India to northern Australia and the Philippines. It flowers between August-November.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Malvales
Family : Sterculiaceae
Genus : Pentapetes
Species : Pentapetes phoenicea
Pronunciation/Meaning:
- Pentapetes (pen-ta-PET-eez) - Having five leaves.
- phoenicea (feen-ih-KEE-uh) - Referring to the genus Phoenix, or the color purple.
Common Names:
- Midday Flower, Noon Flower, Scarlet Mallow, Scarlet Pentapetes, Scarlet Phoenician, Simine, Copper Cups (English)
- Madhyadina, Bandhuka (Sanskrit)
- Dupahariya (Hindi)
- Tambridupari (Marathi)
- Nagappu (Tamil)
- Uchchamalari (Malayalam)
- Makinaccettu (Telugu)
- Kat-lata Bandhuli, Bandhuka (Bengali)
- Sowbhagyasundari (Gujarati)
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