Herb: Chinese Lantern


Latin name: Abutilon x hybridum


Family: Malvaceae (Mallow Family)



Edible parts of Chinese Lantern:

Flowers - raw or cooked. A delicious sweet flavour, they are excellent on their own or as part of a mixed salad. The flowers produce nectar all the time they are open so, assuming the plant is grown indoors and is not visited by pollinating insects, the sweetness increases the longer the flower is open.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Evergreen
Shrub

Height:
3 m
(9 3/4 foot)

Flowering:
May to
June

Habitat of the herb:

Not known in the wild.

Propagation of Chinese Lantern:

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. Germination should take place within a few weeks. Once the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into individual pots. Grow them on for at least the first winter in a greenhouse and plant out in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. This species is a hybrid, so the seedlings will not be true to type. Cuttings of young shoots, June in a frame. Grow on in the greenhouse for their first winter and plant out in spring after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Grow on in the greenhouse for their first winter and plant out in spring after the last expected frosts.

Cultivation of the herb:

Not known in the wild.

Medicinal use of Chinese Lantern:

None known

Known hazards of Abutilon x hybridum:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.