Sida spinosa 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 spinosa L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub to l(-2) m tall, erect, with ascending branches; stems minutely stellate-pubescent. Leaf blades broadly ovate, lanceolate, or narrowly oblong, 2-4 x 0.7-2 cm, smaller upward, glabrate above, minutely stellate-tomentose beneath, the apex usually acute, the margins serrate to the base, sometimes marginally reddish, discolorous; petioles 0.5-1.5 cm long (sometimes with a spur ["spine"] at base of petiole). Rowers solitary or in small groups in the leaf axils, scattered along the stem and crowded at apices; pedicels to 1 cm long. Calyx 5-7 mm long, the lobes triangular, sometimes red-margined, minutely stellate-tomentose; corolla ca. 5 mm long, yellow or yellow-orange. Fruit 4-5 mm diam.; mericarps 5, apically 2-spined, the spines ca. 1 mm long, antrorsely pubescent.

  • Distribution

    Occasional in open disturbed areas such as roadsides and waste grounds. Coral Bay (A4243), Enighed (A3920). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; pantropical and extending into the temperate zones as an annual.

    Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America|