Anisodontea species posing questions

This Anisodontea of which only the one photo was obtained near Calitzdorp in the Little Karoo presents challenges of identification.

The soft, green leaves are flat, markedly three-lobed and long-stalked. They show little signs of hairiness, while three veins, the midrib and two into the lateral lobes, are sunken on the upper surfaces. The margins are toothed in parts, particularly on the central lobes.

The flower has slender, faintly pink petals lined dark but sparingly in the lower half of each petal, notched at the tip but “slovenly” or “half-heartedly” so. There are few stamens around the column as if the flower did not develop properly, while curious purple dots occur at the base of the filamentous column or tube.

Not quite Anisodontea triloba, A. dissecta or A. elegans. It may not be heard of again if something unfortunate had happened to the particular plant to perform thus, or if it is a freak hybrid (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; http:// redlist.sanbi.org).