Abutilon sonneratianum

Abutilon sonneratianum, commonly known as butter and cheese, is a shrub, sometimes considered a shrubby perennial. It reaches 2 m in height.

The long-stalked, simple leaves are heart-shaped with toothed, sometimes also lobed margins. The dark green blades, pale below, are velvety from soft, hairy coverings.

The yellow or orange, rarely pink flowers grow on pedicels of about 6 cm without epicalyces. The five broad petals with rounded to square tips spread to a diameter of about 3 cm. The stamens are partly united in an erect tube over the flower centre around the style. Flowering happens from late spring to after midsummer.

The species distribution is widespread in South Africa and southern Africa, found in all provinces apart from the Northern Cape.

The habitat is diverse, the plants growing near watercourses, at forest margins and in varied scrub veld in clay and loam soils, also in shade. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plant is sometimes used as a stimulant for bulls in the spring (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).