Firmiana simplex W.Wight

Firmiana simplex W.Wight, Bull. Bur. Pl. Industr. U.S.D.A. 142, 67 (1909).

Firmiana simplex (L.) W.Wight; Photos Paco Garin

Latinh name: 

Firmiana simplex (L.) W.Wight 1909 (MALVACEAE).

Synonyms: 

Hibiscus simplex L; Firmiana platanifolia (L. f.) Schott & Endlicher; Sterculia firmiana J. F. Gmelin; S. platanifolia L. f. 

Description: 

Deciduous trees, up to 16 m tall; bark greenish, smooth. Petiole 15-30 cm; leaf blade cordate, palmately 3-5-lobed, 15-30 cm in diam., lobes triangular, both surfaces glabrous or minutely puberulent, basal veins 7, base cordate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence paniculate, terminal, 20-50 cm. Calyx yellowish green, 7-9 mm, divided nearly to base, lobes linear, twisted outward, abaxially puberulent and yellowish; pedicel nearly as long as calyx. Male flower: androgynophore as long as calyx, thicker in lower part, glabrous. Anthers 15, irregularly fascicled, pistillode pear-shaped and very small. Female flower: ovary globose, hairy. Follicle membranous, stalked, foliaceous, 6-11 × 1.5-2.5 cm, 2-4-seeded, abaxially puberulent or nearly glabrous. Seeds globose, ca. 7 mm in diam., wrinkled. 

Distribution: 

Species native to China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan. In Iturraran is in area 3.