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Kleinhovia is a Monotypic taxon genus of plants in the cotton, hibiscus and cacao family Malvaceae. The sole species in the genus is Kleinhovia hospita, commonly known as guest tree, an evergreen tree native to Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific.
The flowers of K. hospita are terminal, in loose protruding from the crown; flowers are about wide, coloured pale pink; pedicels are up to long; are lanceolate, to long, ; gynandrophores are about long and pubescent; there are 5 sepals, linear lanceolate, about long, pink, tomentose; 5 petals, inconspicuous, the upper one being yellow; 15 stamens, , up to long, staminal tube broadly campanulate, adanate to gynandrophore, 5-lobed, each lobe having 3 and alternating with staminodes; the anthers are sessile and extrorse; pistil occur with a 5-celled, pilose ovary, one style and a capitate, with a 5-lobed stigma. K. hospita flowers throughout the year.
Fruit production starts early, often in the third year after planting. The fruit of K. hospita are rounded, 5-lobed, thin-walled, membranous capsules, in diameter, loculicidally dehiscent, each locule having 1–2 seeds. The seeds are globose, whitish, warty and exalbuminous.Lattiff, pp 166–167 The fruits are more conspicuous than the flowers because of their abundance and size.
It has been introduced to the Comoro Islands, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands.
The wood of K. hospita shows a pinkish buff and is moderately fine in texture, soft, light, easy to season, work and finish. Its energy value is about 19000 Joule/kg. The leaves and bark contain compounds that are assumed to help to kill ectoparasites such as lice. Extracts of the leaves have shown anti-tumour activity against sarcoma in mice. A number of with a ring (scopoletin, kaempferol, and quercetin) have been isolated from the leaves.
Kleinhovia hospita is used for ornamental purposes: the attractiveness of the pink panicles accounts for its spread as an Ornamental plant.
The tree bark of Kleinhovia hospita has a good potential as a reinforcement for Fiber Reinforced Composite because of its high mechanical strength.
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