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Anisodontea capensis
A woody shrub about 160cm high with tiny pale 5-petalled purple flowers. The plant shows every characteristic of the Malvaceae family. Flowers had a central cluster of stamens with black anthers. There appeared to be several pistils. Leaves were trilobed and arrangement, alternate.
This plant is native to South Africa. Obviously an ornamental here, it had escaped somebody's garden. I spotted this on a vacant piece of land with other shrubs. It was in a shady spot beside a gully.
Very pretty little flowers that I normally just admire and walk past. Today I noticed that I actually had the opportunity to look close - I found the black anthers rather attractive ! I would like to know if the flowers and leaves are used for anything...more research coming-up! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showima... http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisejoly/...
Spotted on Aug 5, 2012
Submitted on Aug 5, 2012
3 Comments
Hhhmmm. That's interesting. Thanks for reporting on that!
Bernadette S -couldn't find anything on medicinal or culinary uses for this plant in available resources- not even bush medicine.
I agree, those black anthers are beautiful! Looking forward to see what you find out about the plant.