NEERI Biodiversity Portal      

                     Easy access to campus Biodiversity...

Facilitates Learning & Sharing Knowledge of Biodiversity on a Click
NBP was inaugurated by Dr. M.S. Ladania, Director, NRCC Nagpur on 8 April 2015

Kenaf

Hibiscus cannabinus L.



Botanical name : Hibiscus cannabinus L.
Common Name : Kenaf
Family : Malvaceae
About : Annual herb, up to 2 m tall in the wild, up to 5 m in cultivars, Woody to herbaceous, mostly unbranched, fast-growing, with prickly stems, up to 4.2 m tall; leaves alternate, long-petiolate, shallowly to deeply parted, palmately 3-7-lobed; taproot well developed .Flowers solitary, bisexual large to 10 cm in diameter, short-stalked, axillary, yellow with purple centers; sepals 5, petals 5; stamens numerous, connate; ovary superior. Fruit many-seeded, hairy capsule about 1 cm long; seeds brown, glabrous, wedge-shaped, 5 mm long, 3 mm wide, reniform to triangular with acute angles. Flowering in August to September. Probably native to Africa, East Indies, Asia, or Australia, now naturalized in Africa and Asia, generally cultivated in India, Propagation is by seed. The peelings from the stems have been used in the treatment of anemia, fatigue, and lassitude. leaves are used in the treatment of dysentery and bilious, blood and throat disorders.