Abutilon is a large
genus of
flowering plants in the mallow family,
Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the
tropics and
subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include
Indian mallow and
velvetleaf. The genus name is an 18th-century
New Latin word that came from the Arabic , the name given by
Avicenna to this or a similar genus.