Shrubs ca. 1 m tall. Branchlets sparsely villous to glabrate, rarely glabrous. Stipule filiform, ca. 4 mm, usually caducous; petiole 2-5 cm, puberulent; leaf blade broadly cordate to ovate-cordate, usually 3-lobed, sometimes entire, 6-12 × 2.5-10 cm, nearly glabrous or stellate pilose on both surfaces, basal veins 3 or 5, base broadly cuneate to nearly rounded or cordate, margin crenate, sometimes irregularly so, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary, axillary, pendulous, tube-shaped, slightly expanding only at top, 2.3-5 cm. Pedicel 3-15 mm, villous or puberulent. Epicalyx lobes spatulate, 8-15 mm, connate at base, hairy. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1 cm in diam., lobes 5, slightly longer or shorter than bracteoles, hirsute. Petals 5, scarlet-red, 2.5-5 cm. Staminal column 5-7 cm, exceeding corolla tube. Style branches 10. Ripe fruit bright red, usually 3- or 4-seeded.

Source: [
• 1
]. 

Plants 0.5–3[–10] m. Leaf blades elliptic to broadly ovate, 4–20[–25] × 3–12 cm, surfaces sparsely to densely hairy with simple and stellate trichomes. Involucellar bractlets linear-spatulate. Flowers ascending or erect; calyx persistent, lobes connate for 1/2–2/3 their lengths, 8–15 mm, glabrous or hirsute; petals imbricate at anthesis, asymmetrically obovate-cuneate and auriculate toward base, 1.5–4(–5) cm; staminal column with 5 apical teeth; stigmas exserted. Fruits berrylike, usually red, not winged, 8–13[–16] × 10–17 mm, fleshy, edible; mericarps broadly ellipsoid wedge-shaped, smooth, glabrous. Seeds reniform, 3/4 as wide as long. 2n = 56.

Source: [
• 2
]. 

Malvaviscus arboreus Cav., Diss. 3: 131, t. 48, f. 1. 1787; Hibiscus malvaviscus L.; M. acapulcensis Kunth; M. arboreus var. mexicanus Schltdl.; M. grandiflorus Kunth; M. pentacarpus DC.; M. arboreus var. sepium (Schltdl.) Schery; M. lanceolatus Rose.

Arbustos, 3 m de alto; tallos densamente pubescentes a glabrescentes. Hojas elípticas u ovadas, agudas o acuminadas en el ápice, truncadas o cordadas en la base, densa y suavemente tomentosas especialmente en el envés a glabrescentes. Flores solitarias en las axilas o agrupadas apicalmente, pedicelos 1–3 cm de largo; bractéolas del calículo 8–9, lanceoladas, subiguales al cáliz o algo más cortas; cáliz 7–15 mm de largo, puberulento a glabrescente, amarillento; pétalos 2–5 cm de largo; androceo 4–6 cm de largo, glabro, anteras 10–25, moradas, filamentos 1–3 mm de largo. Frutos 1 cm de diámetro, carpidios 6–9 mm de largo.

Común, sotobosques, zonas norcentral y pacífica; 0–2000 m; fl y fr más o menos durante todo el año; Moreno 16746, Stevens 17312; México al norte de Sudamérica. "Quesillo".

Source: [
• 3
]. 

Shrub or small tree up to 10 m but usually not more than 4 m high, some- times clambering over other vegetation, very variable in indumentum, in shape of leaves and in size of flower parts, the branchlets velvety-pubescent to glabrescent. Leaves short- to usually long-petiolate, the petiole to 18 cm long; blade lanceolate to broadly ovate, or oblong-ovate, or slightly obovate, or slightly depressed ovate, entire to shallowly lobed, rounded, truncate or cordate at the base, commonly more or less acuminate at the apex, sinuate or crenulate to rather coarsely serrate to den- tate at the margin, up to 21 cm long and 16 cm broad, thin, 5- to 7(-9)-pal- minerved, often scabridulous and usually with spreading, stellate hairs on both sur- faces, the venation reticulate and slightly prominent on both sides. Flowers with the pedicel 1-6 cm long, glabrous to tomentellous; epicalyx equalling more or less the calyx, 11-20 mm long, the bractlets linear, narrowly lanceolate or sometimes more or less narrowly spatulate, glabrous to tomentellous; calyx 10-18 mm long, usually more or less deeply lobed, glabrous to tomentellous; petals obovate or sometimes narrowly obovate, emarginate or infrequently deeply lobed at the apex, 23-55 mm long and (7-)12-25 mm broad, deep pink to bright red; staminal tube 3-6 cm long. Fruit depressed-obovoid, ca 6-10 mm high and 8-13 mm in diam.

Source: [
• 4
]. 

Arbusto, 1.5 – 2.5 m; tallos y pecíolos suavemente pubescentes con tricomas principalmente 1 mm (pero ocasionalmente hasta ca. 2 mm). Hojas 4 –18 X 3.5 –16 cm, elípticas a ampliamente ovadas, cuneadas a re- dondeadas o ligeramente cordadas en la base, agudas o acuminadas en el ápice, a menudo algo lobuladas, de otra forma crenadas, cortamente estrellado-pubescentes en el haz, la pubescencia fácilmente tangible. Infls. con los pedicelos 5 – 30 mm. Fls. con las brácteas caliculares erectas, subiguales al cáliz, 1– 2.5 mm de ancho, lan- ceoladas a liguladas, estrellado-pubescentes e hirsutas (esp. en el margen); cáliz 10 –15 mm, puberulento con tricomas descoloridos; pétalos 25 – 35(– 40) mm; columna estaminal 40 – 60 mm, exerta; anteras centrales 1– 1.3 mm; estilos que ligeramente exceden el androceo. Frs. rojos, ca. 1 cm de diám.

Source: [
• 5
]. 

Shrub tree

Source: [
• 4
]. 

Malvaviscus arboreus grows as a pubescent shrub to 4 m in height. The leaves are arranged alternately, ovate to 25 cm in length, occasionally 3-lobed, with a toothed margin, acute/acuminate leaf apex. The leaves have stellate pubescence.The complete, perfect, actinomorphic flowers are solitary in leaf axils and subtended by bracts. The calyx has 5 fused green sepals. The corolla has 5 fused pink or red petals that are twirled. The petals do not open when the flower is mature and remain closed throughout the flowering period. Only the anthers and style/stigma emerge from the flower. There are numerous stamens fused together around the style in a column. The ovary is superior with 5 locules and numerous seeds. The fruit is a loculicidal capsule.

Source: [
• 7
]. 

Malvaviscus arboreus grows in Dry Broadleaf Evergreen Formations – Forest/Shrublands (coppice).

Source: [
• 7
]. 

Southernmost United States and West Indies to Peru and Brazil; sea coast to elevations of 2000 m, in various habitats; often cultivated as an ornamental; known in Panama as mapola and papito de monte.

Source: [
• 4
]. 

Malvaviscus arboreus is NOT native to the Lucayan Archipelago but does occurs in the northern Pine islands. It is native to Central and South America but now is throughout the Caribbean region and the southern United States as well as parts of Africa and Asia.

Source: [
• 7
]. 

Malvaviscus arboreus is not known to be used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.It is in the horticultural trade and is good for attracting birds and butterflies and the fruits are edible.

Source: [
• 7
].