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Weed Seed: Abutilon theophrasti (Velvetleaf)

Family

Malvaceae

Common Name

Velvetleaf

Regulation

Primary Noxious, Class 2 in the Canadian Weed Seeds Order, 2016 under the Seeds Act.

Distribution

Canadian: Occurs in all provinces except NL, NT, NU and YT (Brouillet et al. 2016Footnote 1). Prevalent in southern ON and QC (Warwick and Black 1988Footnote 2).

Worldwide: Native to Asia (India or China) and introduced to Europe, northern Africa and North America (CABI 2016Footnote 3).

Duration of life cycle

Annual

Seed or fruit type

Seed

Identification features

Size

Shape

Surface Texture

Colour

Other Features

Habitat and Crop Association

Cultivated fields, field margins and fence rows, gardens, roadsides, vacant lots and other waste places. A troublesome weed, especially in corn, soybean, sorghum and cotton fields (Warwick and Black 1988Footnote 2).

General Information

Velvetleaf was introduced into North America in the mid-1700s as a potential fibre crop (Warwick and Black 1988Footnote 2).

This annual species is adapted to be a weed of cultivated land and waste places, and movement of feed grain is believed to have spread it throughout eastern Canada (Warwick and Black 1988Footnote 2).

Similar species

Flower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum)

Photos

Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) seeds
Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) seed
Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) seed

Similar species

Similar species: Flower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum) seed
Similar species: Flower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum) seeds
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