Sida cordifolia

Sida cordifolia L. Sp. Pl. 684. 1753; Masters in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 322. 1875; Nair, Fl. Bashahr Himal. 46. 1977; Paul & Sharma et al., Fl. India 3: 285. 1993; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 12: 270, 273; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 83; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org vol. 6; eFlora India (bsi) vol. 3; S. herbacea Cav., Diss. 1: 19, pl. 13, f.1: 19. 1785.

Erect, subshrub, ca. 1 m tall, with an unpleasant smell. Branchlets, stipules, petioles, leaves and peduncles/ pedicels densely stellate mixed with simple spreading hairs. Stipules ca. 4 mm x 0.25 mm, filiform, stellate hairy. Petioles ca. 4 mm long, swollen at top, stellate hairy; leaf blade 1.5-6 cm x 0.4-5 cm, ovate, abaxially velutinous on veins, base minutely cordate or rounded, 5-7-nerved, margin crenate, apex acute, obtuse or rounded; both surfaces stellate hairy mixed with simple hairs. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, solitary, axillary or terminal or in fascicles of 2-5, particularly towards apex of branches. Peduncle +/- 4-7 mm, up to 2 cm in fruit, articulate in distal part, stellate hairy along with simple hairs. Calyx 5-6 mm long, cup-shaped, fused to the middle, 5- angled and prominently ribbed (10-angled in C.S.), 5-lobed, lobes deltoid to ovate, stellate hairy mixed with simple long hairs. Corolla yellow, ca. 1 cm long and 1.5 cm across, petals 5, oblong or obliquely obovate, 6-8 mm long, slightly exceeding calyx, ciliate at base. Stamens many, monoadelphous; staminal tube ca. 3 mm long, hairy or glabrous. Carpels 10, syncarpous; ovary conical, 10-locular, stellate hairy; style 10-branched. Fruit a schizocarp, discoid, 5-8 mm in diameter, stellate hairy in upper part. Mericarps 8-10, 2-3 mm long excluding awns, ca. 2.5 mm broad and radially 2.5-3 mm long; dorsal and ventral surfaces with prominent reticulations; apical portion stellate hairy; apex of mericarps with 2 awns, awn divergent, 3-5 mm long, exceeding calyx, retrosely barbed. Seeds dark brown, ovoid, flattened, 2 mm x 2 mm, glabrous except for hairy apex.

Flowering and Fruiting: March to October
Common Names: Heart-Leaf Sida, Flannel Weed, Bala, Country Mallow; Kharinta (Hindi)