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false or Indian or prickly mallow, prickly fanpetals, prickly sida

bract fanpetals, bract or fringe or salmon sida, bract sida, huinar

Habit Subshrubs or herbs, annual or perennial, 0.2–1 m, rarely taller. Herbs, probably perennial, 0.1–0.3 m.
Stems

erect, minutely stellate-hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm.

procumbent, branched from base, with appressed, stellate, usually 4-rayed hairs.

Leaves

stipules free from petiole, 1-veined, subulate, 3–6 mm, 1/2 as long as petiole;

petiole 5–15 mm, usually 1/4–1/2 length of blade, sometimes shorter, minutely stellate-hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm, usually with small spinelike tubercle on stem just below its attachment;

blade ovate, lanceolate, or narrowly oblong, 2–6 cm, smaller apically, 2–5 times longer than wide, base subcordate, margins crenate-serrate to base, apex usually acute, surfaces stellate-tomentulose abaxially, glabrate adaxially.

usually crowded at stem apex;

stipules partially adnate to petiole, 1-veined, linear to oblanceolate, 4–12 mm, usually longer than petiole;

petiole 2–10 mm, 1/4–1/2 length of blade, with appressed stellate hairs;

blade narrowly elliptic, 1–2 cm, usually 2–3 times longer than wide, base truncate to subcordate, margins dentate apically, entire basally, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces stellate-hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially.

Inflorescences

axillary solitary or 2–4 clustered flowers.

terminal, subsessile, usually 1–10-flowered, flowers crowded at branch apices because of shortening of internodes, obscurely solitary, axillary.

Pedicels

0.5–1 cm, subequal to calyx and subtending petiole.

adnate to petiole of leaflike bract, 0.1–0.4 cm, shorter than calyx.

Flowers

calyx angulate, 5–7 mm, minutely tomentose, lobes triangular;

petals yellow, rarely white, 5 mm;

staminal column glabrous;

style 5-branched.

calyx obscurely angulate, 4–6 mm, hirsute, lobes ovate;

petals usually salmon-pink, red-orange, sometimes yellowish, 5–11 mm;

staminal column hairy;

style 5–8-branched.

Schizocarps

subconic, 4–5 mm diam., hairy;

mericarps 5, 3–4 mm, somewhat rugose, apex spined, spines 1 mm, antrorsely hairy.

conic, 5–6 mm diam., subglabrous;

mericarps 5–8, prominently muricate, otherwise glabrous.

2n

= 14, 28.

= 16.

Sida spinosa

Sida ciliaris

Phenology Flowering year-round in warmer areas, summer elsewhere. Flowering year-round.
Habitat Roadsides, pastures, disturbed ground Roadsides, pastures, disturbed habitats, usually in open areas
Elevation 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; TX; Mexico; South America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

A small spur sometimes is present on the abaxial side of the petiole at the juncture with the stem, to which the specific epithet refers. It is not a spine and occasionally is absent.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Sida ciliaris is found in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the Florida Keys and in central and southern Texas. The stems can be procumbent but not distinctly mat-forming, and they are often ascending, not flexible, and tufted. The flowers are sometimes described as being salmon-colored; that feature, the congested terminal leaves and flowers, and the adnate stipules are quite distinctive.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 318. FNA vol. 6, p. 313.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sida Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sida
Sibling taxa
S. abutilifolia, S. antillensis, S. ciliaris, S. cordifolia, S. elliottii, S. glabra, S. hermaphrodita, S. lindheimeri, S. littoralis, S. longipes, S. neomexicana, S. planicaulis, S. rhombifolia, S. rubromarginata, S. santaremensis, S. tragiifolia, S. ulmifolia, S. urens
S. abutilifolia, S. antillensis, S. cordifolia, S. elliottii, S. glabra, S. hermaphrodita, S. lindheimeri, S. littoralis, S. longipes, S. neomexicana, S. planicaulis, S. rhombifolia, S. rubromarginata, S. santaremensis, S. spinosa, S. tragiifolia, S. ulmifolia, S. urens
Synonyms S. alba, S. alnifolia, S. angustifolia, S. heterocarpa Malvastrum linearifolium, S. anomala, S. ciliaris var. anomala, S. ciliaris var. mexicana, S. involucrata
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 683. (1753) Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1145. (1759)
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