Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor maple, or flowering maple. The genus name is an 18th-century Neo-Latin word that came from the Arabic ’abū-ṭīlūn, the name given by Avicenna to this or a similar genus.

Abutilon theophrasti, also known as Velvetleaf, Velvet Plant, Velvetweed and the Chinese jute is an annual plant in the family Malvaceae that is native to southern Asia and it serves as a type species of the genus Abutilon. Its specific epithet, theophrasti, commemorates the ancient Greek botanist-philosopher Theophrastus.