Thespesia lampas (Cav.) Dalzell & A. Gibson

Cotton from the seeds of Thespesia lampas has been used to make clothing.

Shrubs evergreen, 1-2 m tall. Branchlets stellate tomentose. Stipule filiform, 5-7 mm; petiole 1-4 cm, stellate puberulent; leaf blade ovate or palmately 3-lobed, 8-13 × 6-13 cm, abaxially densely ferruginous stellate tomentose, adaxially sparsely stellate pilose, base rounded or nearly cordate, apex acuminate, lateral lobes with margin shallowly crenate, apex acuminate or rounded. Flowers solitary or in cymes, axillary; peduncle 3-8 cm. Pedicel 0.5-1 cm, stellate puberulent. Epicalyx lobes 5, subulate, 2-3 mm. Calyx shallowly cup-shaped, subtruncate with 5 subulate 4-8 mm teeth, stellate puberulent. Corolla yellow, campanulate, ca. 6 cm; petals abaxially densely ferruginous puberulent. Capsule ellipsoid, 5-angular, ca. 2 cm in diam., stellate puberulent, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds black, ovoid, ca. 5 mm, smooth, with a ring of hairs near hilum. Fl. Sep-Jan.

Africa, S. & S.E. Asia.

200-1100 m

Scrub. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; E Africa].

Hibiscus lampas Cavanilles, Diss. 3: 154. 1787; Azanza lampas (Cavanilles) Alefeld; Bupariti lampas (Cavanilles) Rothmaler.