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Sida
cordifolia L.
Standardized Common
Name: Heart-Leaf Sida
Other Common Names: Bala, Country
Mallow, Flannelweed
Family: Malvaceae
Taxonomy: Sida is a
pantropical genus including about 150 to 200 species of shrubs and herbs. Sida
cordifolia is rather weedy and is found in tropical and subtropical areas
worldwide. Its closest relatives, a group of species classed as Sect. Cordifoliae,
are primarily North and South American, with a few representatives in
Australia.
Description: Subshrub to shrub,
often annual, (0.1–)0.5–0.7(–1.5) m tall; twigs densely woolly-pubescent.
Leaves stipulate, petiolate, ovate to orbicular or lanceolate-oblong, 1–8(–9)
cm long; base cordate to rounded; apex bluntly acute to obtuse; margins dentate
to crenate; both surfaces densely woolly-pubescent. Flowers solitary or rarely
clustered in leaf axils or terminal in small dense clusters; pedicels usually
jointed. Calyx 5–9 mm long, campanulate, 5-angled and strongly 10-ribbed,
5-lobed, densely woolly-pubescent; corolla rotate, 12–15 mm in diameter,
5-lobed, pale yellow to orange-yellow; stamens numerous, short, the filaments
fused, clustered into 5 groups; ovary compound, with (5–)7–14 locules and
styles. Fruit a globose schizocarp of (5–)7–14 mericarps, separating at maturity;
mericarps flattened, 3-sided, 1-seeded, pubescent, with 2 stiff awns and
reticulated lateral surfaces.
Parts
in Commerce:
Leaves, sometimes with stems
Identification:
- Stems tough,
densely woolly-pubescent with stellate and unbranched hairs
- Stipules 3–10 mm
long, narrow, pubescent, not forming a spine; stipules of a single pair
not differing greatly in shape
- Petiole 0.4–4.0
cm long, densely pubescent
- Leaves 1–8(–9)
cm long, ovate to broadly ovate, or rarely orbicular or narrowly ovate to
ovate-oblong
- Base cordate to
subcordate or rarely rounded to rounded-truncate
- Apex acute to
obtuse
- Margins dentate
from base to apex
- Both surfaces
soft to the touch, densely pubescent with branched hairs, usually also
with unbranched hairs and glandular trichomes on some portions
- Venation
pinnate, except that the first 1–3 pairs of secondary veins arise
simultaneously at base of midrib
Sida rhombifolia L. (Arrow-Leaf Sida) may be
considered interchangeable with S. cordifolia in traditional Ayurvedic
medicine (in which the roots are most commonly used). This species includes two
distinctive subspecies: subsp. rhombifolia has frequently rhomboid
leaves, widest in the middle with a tapering base and acute apex, whereas
leaves of subsp. retusa are widest near the apex, with a truncate to
rounded apex. The stems are roughly rather than softly hairy, the upper surface
of the leaves is glabrous or sparsely pubescent, and there is normally only one
pair of secondary veins arising near the base of the midvein.
References:
Fryxell PA. 1985. Sidus sidarum—V. The North and
Central American species of Sida. Sida. 1985;11:62–91.
Philcox D. Malvaceae. In: Dassanayake MD, Clayton
WD, eds. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon, vol. XI. New Delhi:
Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., Pvt. Ltd.; 1997:287–360.
Saibaba AM, Shanmukha Rao SR. Leaf venation studies
in Indian Sida (Malvaceae). Sida. 1990;14:215–222.
Saxena HO, Brahmam M. The flora of Orissa. Volume
I. Ranunculaceae to Fabaceae. Bhubaneswar, India: Orissa Forest Development
Corporation Ltd.; 1994.
Standley PC, Steyermark JA. Flora of Guatemala
part VI. Chicago, IL: Chicago Natural History Museum; 1949. [Fieldiana
vol. 24, part VI.]
Figure 68: a–c, Sida cordifolia leaf and close-ups of
upper and lower surfaces.
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