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Midday Flower
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Midday Flower
ative lanceshaped Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Midday Flower, Scarlet Mallow, Copper Cups, Florimpia, Noon Flower, Scarlet Pentapetes, Scarlet phoenician • Hindi: दुपहरिया Dupahariya • Bengali: কটলতা বন্ধুলী Kat-lata Bandhuli, বন্ধুক Bandhuka • Gujarati: સૌભાગ્યસુંદરી Saubhagyasundari • Kannada: ಬಂಧುರ Bandhura, ಬಂಧೂಕ Bandhooka, ಬಂಧುಜೀವ Bandhujeeva, ಬಂಧುಜೀವಕ Bandhujeevaka • Marathi: तांबरीदुपारी Tambridupari • Malayalam: Uchchamalari • Manipuri: ꯅꯨꯡꯊꯤꯜ ꯂꯩ Nungthil lei • Sanskrit: मध्यदिन Madhyadina, बंधूक Bandhuka • Tamil: நாகப்பூ Nagappu • Telugu: మంకెన్న Mankenna, Makinaccettu
Botanical name: Pentapetes phoenicea    Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Midday Flower is an erect, half-woody plant, 0.5-1 m in height. The branches are long and spreading. The leaves are alternate, linear, 6-10 cm in length, toothed at the margins, usually having a broad base, and tapering to a pointed tip. Scarlet flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves with 5 large, orange-red, showy petals. The flowers, 2.5-3.5 cm across, open around noon, and close the following dawn. The fruit is a 5-valved, rounded, hairy capsule, about 1 cm in diameter. The seeds, which are not winged, occur 8-12 in two series in each cell. Midday Flower is native to a wide region of tropical South Asia from Ceylon and India to northern Australia and the Philippines. Flowering: August-November.
Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Delhi.
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