Dombeya acutangula

Dombeya acutangula, the bois bete or mahot tantan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues), and Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.

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

On Mauritius it grows in forests from 300 to 500 meters elevation. It is almost extinct on the island due to habitat loss; some 50 plants remain in the wild, growing in a narrowly circumscribed area at Corps de garde, Trois Mamelles, Yemen, Magenta and Chamarel.

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