Moreover, in a miniscule way I helped to deplete the world's velvetleaf seedbank. The genus Abutilon includes about 150 species, several of them grown ornamentally. Varieties of A. hybridum Hort. The seeds and seed coats also have chemicals and microbial agents which inhibit growth of bacteria and fungi. The data in Table 1 demonstrate the difficulty of depleting a velvetleaf seedbank even under intensive farming.
Velvetleaf germinates throughout the summer.
Because of these abilities, and because it can grow tall enough to overtop corn, velvetleaf can infest a corn field even after the crop forms a dense canopy. Velvetleaf also makes itself at home in dry beans, alfalfa, tobacco, and peanuts. Velvetleaf also has allelopathic effects on crop plants. Therefore velvetleaf is more likely to become a problem in horticultural crops such as tomatoes than in agronomic crops. Andersen, R.N., R.M. Menges, and J.S. Conn. 1985.