Sida ciliaris L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Malvaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Sida ciliaris L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Prostrate perennial herb to 25 cm long, freely branching; stems with appressed stellate hairs, these usually 4-armed and aligned longitudinally with the stem axis. Leaves mostly crowded at apices of branches because of marked shortening of apical internodes; blades narrowly elliptic, 0.5-2 x 0.5-0.7 cm, glabrous above, stellate-pubescent beneath, the apex acute or obtuse, the margins few-toothed apically; petioles 5-6 mm long; stipules linear to oblanceolate, 4-12 mm long, crowded, partially adnate to petiole, ciliate. Flowers and fruits subsessile, crowded among leaves and stipules at branch apices. Calyx 4-6 mm long, half-divided, hirsute; corolla 5-11 mm long, pink (or less often red-orange or yellowish). Fruit conical, more or less muricate; mericarps 5-8, essentially indehiscent.

  • Discussion

    bellidifolia Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 71: 629. 1924.

    Sida microtricha Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 71: 629. 1924.

    Sida ononidifolia Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 71: 629. 1924

  • Distribution

    Recently disturbed sites. Bethany (B329), Frank Bay (A4217), Nanny Point (A2441). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada; the southern United States to Argentina.

    Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Anegada Virgin Islands South America| United States of America North America| Argentina South America|