The Bois Bete or mahot tantan (Dombeya acutangula) is a flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 found only in Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 and Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

. Formerly placed in the Sterculiaceae

Sterculiaceae

Sterculiaceae is a botanical name for a group of flowering plants at the rank of family, which is now considered obsolete. As is true for any botanical name, the circumscription, status and placement of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view...

, this artificial assemblage is now included in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Malvaceae

Malvaceae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. Well known members of this family include okra, jute and cacao...

 by most authors.

It has charming pale (white or light pink) flowers in small clusters. The natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is subtropical or tropical dry forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s but it is almost extinct due to habitat loss; some 50 plants remain in the wild, growing in a narrowly circumscribed area at Corps de garde

Corps de Garde

Corps de Garde is a 720 metre-high mountain of volcanic origin, in the area of the Moka Range between the Mountain Du Rempart and the Le Pouce Mountain in the Plaines Wilhems district of Mauritius. This basaltic rock has an imposing appearance which is characterized by an abruptly breakup and is...

, Trois Mamelles, Yemen, Magenta and Chamarel

Chamarel

Chamarel is village in the southwest of Mauritius with a population of 700. It is is named after the frenchman Charles Antoine de Chazal de Chamarel, who lived in the area around 1800....

.

Systematics

Bois Bete was sometimes placed in Pentapetes. It is somewhat variable and thus was described under a number of names, which are now considered junior synonyms:

• Pentapetes acutangula Poir.
• Pentapetes angulosa Poir.
• Pentapetes palmata Poir.

This species is rather isolated among its congener

Congener

Congener has several different meanings depending on the field in which it is used. Colloquially, it is used to mean a person or thing like another, in character or action.-Biology:In biology, congeners are organisms within the same genus...

s and may belong to the more basal members of its genus. It differs both from the "xeric forest" group of Mascarene Dombeya (e.g. D. mauritiana and D. rodriguesiana) and the "rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 group" (e.g. D. blattiolens and D. ciliata).