Kosteletsky five

Perennial herbaceous plant. Extremely variable in terms of height, size and shape of the leaves, the intensity and prevalence of the fluffy cover, as well as the size of the corolla ^[6] . The stem is straight, branched, star-fluffy, can be soft velvety or rough to the touch. The height of an adult varies from a few decimeters to 2.5 m ^[6] , while in many sources it is usually not indicated more than 1-1.2 m ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} . Often, the plant has several stems emerging directly from the root system ^[6] .

The leaf blade is grayish-green in color, has the shape from oval-cordate to swept, often with 3-5 pointed lobes. The edges of the leaf blade are unevenly serrated. The upper leaves are lanceolate or oval-lanceolate ^{[6] [8] [11]} . The sizes are successively reduced from the bottom up, starting from the middle part of the stem. In the general case, their width is 4–10 and their length is 6–12 cm ^[11] . In the lower and middle leaves, petiole 4–10 cm is developed ^[6] . The order of leaves on the stem is the next ^[12] .

The flowers are solitary in the axils of the leaves, less often form small brushes or panicles on the tops of the branches. Bracts are subulate, noticeably narrower and shorter than sepals , pubescent. Sepals of a triangular shape, pointed, 10-12 mm long, as a rule, protrude significantly beyond the edges of a ripe fruit . Five petals form a pinkish-lilac, sometimes whitish, almost closed cup with a diameter of 4-8 cm. The fused stamens form a tube , in the center of which a pistil develops, consisting of five branches with stigmas (resemble pinheads ). The fruit is a slightly flattened spherical box with a diameter of 10-12 mm, which, when opened, splits into five equal parts. The seed is ovoid, soft, black or brown in color, 3-4 mm thick ^{[13] [14]} .

The color and shape of the flower somewhat resembles the hibiscus Hibiscus laevis , whose habitats intersect with the described species in North America ^[15] .

Range

This is the only kind of Kosteletsky , whose range captures temperate latitudes. The plant is distributed in eastern North America, in southern Europe and Western Asia ^[16] . In North America, it, originally known under the Latin name Kosteletzkya virginica , is considered a common species along the eastern coast of the United States from Long Island ( New York State ) to Florida and southeast Texas ^[13] . The plant also grows in Bermuda and Cuba ^[17] .

In Eurasia , where the name Kosteletzkya pentacarpos is traditionally used ^[3] , the plant is considered a rare species. In the Mediterranean , only a few small areas of the range have survived to this day: in the Llobregat River Delta, on Lake Albufera and the Balearic Islands ( Spain ), Corsica ( France ), the coasts of Lazio and Apulia ( Italy ) ^{[17] [18]} . The famous Russian botanist Alexander Grossheim in the middle of the 20th century registered individual foci of the range in Transcaucasia ^[8] . Currently, sphagnum marshy lowlands near the village of Anakaliya in Georgia and the historical Talysh region along the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan and Iran are recognized as such centers. The plant is also noted in the valleys of the Volga and Don rivers in Russia ^[17] .

Habitats

The plant is demanding on well-moistened soils and light, and it is most often found on not too saline soils : along the margins of marches in the sea tide strip, in lowering dunes on clay and sandy soils, on dams and in deltas . Less often grows along the banks of rivers, on high bogs . Shaded areas are avoided ^{[12] [17]} .

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