CHINESE LANTERN FLOWER, AN UNSUAL LOOKING FLOWER

This very distinctive perennial flower has been known by many names, including the “Chinese-lantern,” “redvein abutilon,” “redvein Indian mallow,” “redvein flowering maple,” “bladder cherry,” “Japanese-lantern,” “strawberry ground cherry,” “winter cherry,” etc. The currently accepted botanical name is Abutilon pictum. The word “pictum” is Latin for “painted.

                                   Figure 1. The Chinese Lantern flower (each bloom in this image is about 1.5 inches in diameter)..

This flower grows as a shrub, up to 16 feet (5 m) in height. 

This flower is unforgettable because of its very prominent and unusual orange-red, bell-shaped flowers with dark-red veining. There are five petals (2 to 4 cm long). It blooms from April to September. It likes the full sun. Its cultivars can be yellow, pink, orange, or red. During its growth, this flower can also be surrounded by a very porous and fragile “lace-like” veil or delicate webbed net, which can resemble a "webby" lantern. 

This flower is native to southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Today, this flower, or its human “designed” cultivars, are widespread in USDA Zones 3-9 throughout the world. There is a “rub,” however, as this plant is highly invasive because of it having fast-growing and rapidly spreading underground rhizones. Thus, it is recommended by gardeners to be grown only in pots (and never directly on the ground!).

In summary, this is one of the most distinctive and memorable flowers that I have ever seen (i.e., I saw it at a commercial gardening shop).

  Classification

Kingdom Plantae

Clades (4 of them)

Order Malvales

Family Malvaceae

Genus Abutilon

Type Species A. pictum

Note: While researching the Chinese lantern flower, I discovered in Wikipedia 2026, that this flower was mistakenly confused with the flower Physalis alkekengi, which belongs to family Solanale [= the deadly nighshsad flower family]. Although these two flowers do superficially resemble one another, they are not the same plant! The actual Chinese lantern flower belongs to genus to Abutilon, as indicated above.

Reference

Wikipedia 2026