{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{For|the insect genus|Abroma (cicada)}} {{Speciesbox | image = Abroma augustum Abroma wyniosła 2023-07-30 04.jpg | image_caption = ''Abroma augustum'' | genus = Abroma | parent_authority = Jacq. | display_parents = 2 | species = augustum | authority = (L.) L.f. | synonyms = *''Ambroma'' {{small|L.f., orth. var.}} *''Abroma alatum'' <small>Blanco</small> *''Abroma angulatum'' <small>Lam.</small> *''Abroma angulosum'' <small>Poir.</small> *''Abroma commune'' <small>Blanco</small> *''Abroma denticulatum'' <small>Miq.</small> *''Abroma elongatum'' <small>Lam.</small> *''Abroma fastuosum'' <small>Jacq.</small> *''Abroma javanicum'' <small>Miq.</small> *''Abroma molle'' <small>DC.</small> *''Abroma obliquum'' <small>C.Presl</small> *''Abroma sinuosum'' <small>G.Nicholson</small> *''Abroma wheleri'' {{small|Retz.}} *''Theobroma augustum'' <small>L.</small> (basionym) | synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo1>{{cite web |title=''Abroma'' Jacq. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30190221-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=14 November 2025}}</ref><ref name = powo2>{{cite web|title=''Abroma augustum'' (L.) L.f. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:822006-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher = Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|access-date=14 November 2025}}</ref> }}
'''''Abroma''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It includes a single species, '''''Abroma augustum''''',<ref name = powo1/> sometimes written ''Abroma augusta'',<ref>{{Citation |title=Sterculiaceae ''Abroma augustum'' (L.) L.f. |url=http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=822006-1 |access-date=2016-03-22}}</ref> and commonly known as '''devil's cotton'''. It is a shrub or tree native to tropical Asia, ranging from the Himalayas and southern China through Indochina and Malesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.<ref name = powo2/>
''Abroma augustum'' has dark red flowers with a characteristic and unusual appearance. The leaves and stems are covered with soft bristly hairs that are very irritating to the touch. The bark yields a jute-like fiber. It is used as a traditional medicinal plant.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia |article=Flora |author=M Iqbal Zuberi}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== The species was first described as ''Theobroma augustum'' (or ''Theobroma augusta'') by Carl Linnaeus in 1768.<ref>{{Citation |title=Sterculiaceae ''Theobroma augustum'' L. |url=http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=825562-1 |access-date=2019-05-26}}</ref>
The genus was described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1776<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10251#page/7/mode/1up |title=Hortus botanicus vindobonensis |chapter=''Abroma fastuosum'' |volume=3 |pages=3–4 |year=1776}}</ref> with a single species ''Abroma fastuosum'', which was illustrated and described.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10251#page/57/mode/1up |title=Hortus botanicus vindobonensis |chapter=Tab 1 |volume=3 |year=1776}}</ref> However, because Jacquin was renaming ''Theobroma augusta'' L., according to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, he was required to use the name ''Abroma augustum'', and ''A. fastuosum'' is an illegitimate name.<ref>{{citation |url=http://botany.si.edu/ing/ |title=Index Nominum Genericorum |accessdate=30 September 2016}}</ref> The correct name of the type species, ''A. augustum'' (L.) L. f., was made in 1782 by Carl Linnaeus the Younger. ''Ambroma'' is an orthographic variant.<ref name = powo2/>
<gallery> File:The paradisus londinensis (8318683784).jpg file:Devil's Cotton (Ambroma augusta) 1.jpg File:Abroma augustum-6-papanasam-tirunelveli-India.jpg|mature fruit </gallery>
==Cultivation== In the greenhouse, plants bloom from late spring to early summer. Dark maroon flowers are formed in terminal panicles. Individual flowers are up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) across.
''Abroma augustum'' is propagated from seed. Seed germinate in 21–30 days at 72 °F (24 °C).
==References== {{commons category}} {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2711718|from2=Q4669565}}
Category:Byttnerioideae Category:Monotypic Malvaceae genera Category:Flora of Assam (region) Category:Flora of Bangladesh Category:Flora of Borneo Category:Flora of Cambodia Category:Flora of South-Central China Category:Flora of Southeast China Category:Flora of East Himalaya Category:Flora of Java Category:Flora of the Lesser Sunda Islands Category:Flora of Malaya Category:Flora of the Maluku Islands Category:Flora of Myanmar Category:Flora of Nepal Category:Flora of New Guinea Category:Flora of the Nicobar Islands Category:Flora of the Philippines Category:Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Category:Flora of Sulawesi Category:Flora of Thailand Category:Flora of Vietnam Category:Plants described in 1768 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
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