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

Virginia fanpetals, Virginia mallow

Habit Subshrubs or herbs, annual or perennial, 0.2–1 m, rarely taller. Herbs, perennial, 1–2.5(–5) m.
Stems

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

erect, minutely stellate-hairy when young, soon glabrate.

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.

stipules free from petiole, linear-lanceolate, 3–4 mm, shorter than petiole;

petiole to 0.9 mm, shorter than blade, glabrous;

blade palmately 5–7-lobed, maplelike, to 24 cm, ± as long as wide, smaller upward, base cordate, margins serrate, apex long-acuminate, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

axillary solitary or 2–4 clustered flowers.

axillary, subumbellate, 2–10-flowered pedunculate corymbs, forming terminal panicles.

Pedicels

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

Flowers

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

petals yellow, rarely white, 5 mm;

staminal column glabrous;

style 5-branched.

calyx dark-pigmented basally, unribbed, not angulate, 4–5 mm, minutely stellate-hairy, lobes wide-triangular;

petals white, 8–10 mm;

staminal column hairy;

style 8-branched.

Schizocarps

subconic, 4–5 mm diam., hairy;

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

subconic, 6–8 mm diam., minutely stellate-hairy;

mericarps 8, not reticulate, apex beaked.

2n

= 14, 28.

= 28.

Sida spinosa

Sida hermaphrodita

Phenology Flowering year-round in warmer areas, summer elsewhere. Flowering late summer.
Habitat Roadsides, pastures, disturbed ground Along streams, roadsides, railroad embankments, disturbed sites
Elevation 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft) 50–200 m (200–700 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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from FNA
DC; IN; KY; MD; MI; OH; PA; VA; WV; ON
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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.)

Some occurrences of Sida hermaphrodita may be the result of escapes from cultivation. It is generally rare except locally common along the Kanawha and Ohio rivers in Ohio and West Virginia (D. M. Spooner et al. 1985); it has been extirpated from Tennessee. Reports from Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York refer to garden escapes. The species may or may not be native in Michigan.

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

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 318. FNA vol. 6, p. 315.
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. ciliaris, S. cordifolia, S. elliottii, S. glabra, 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 Napaea hermaphrodita
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 683. (1753) (Linnaeus) Rusby: Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 5: 223. (1894)
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