Malvaceae (mallow family) Anisodontea

Anisodontea × hypomadara Cape mallow

South Africa
Anisodontea × hypomadara leaves and flower. John Rawlings, ca. 2005

A a mass planting of this shrub before 2000 was sheared to a dense, 4-foot high hedge at the north end of the Bing Wing of Green Library, facing Lasuen Mall. It has showy, inch-wide, long-blooming purple flowers, and small, 1 to 1½-inch long three-lobed leaves. This planting slowly died off and in May 2009 only one plant remained.

A few other Cape mallows can be seen on the east side of Campus Drive West, between Searsville Road and Stock Farm Road, near the Cape fuchsia.

Anisodontea × hypomadara flower. John Rawlings, ca. 2005

About this Entry: John Rawlings authored the main text of this entry ca. 2005. Light edits (Dec 2017, SP). Name edits (Nov 2023, SP).