Triumfetta semitriloba

Triumfetta semitriloba Plum. ex L.

Common Names: Burr Bush

Family: Malvaceae

Habit: Triumfetta semitriloba grows as a pubescent annual herb. The leaves are arranged alternately, ovate to suborbicular and 3-lobed, to 12 cm in length, with an serrate leaf margin (sometimes 3-lobed), acute/acuminate leaf apex.  The leaves have stellate pubescence and there are lanceolate stipules.

The complete, perfect, actinomorphic flowers are arranged in panicles.  The calyx has 5 unfused, linear, pubescent, green sepals. The corolla has 5 unfused yellow petals.  The sepals and petals are about the same length. There are numerous stamens fused together around the style in a column.  The ovary is superior with 3-4 locules and numerous seeds.  The fruit is a loculicidal capsule covered in spikes.

Habitat: Triumfetta semitriloba grows in Human Altered environments (yards, abandoned fields) and the edges of Dry Broadleaf Evergreen Formations – Forest/Shrublands (coppice).

Distribution: Triumfetta semitriloba occurs in the central and northern island groupings of the Lucayan Archipelago, the Caribbean region, Mexico, Central and South America, the southern United States.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Triumfetta semitriloba is not known to be used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.