Cuban-jute

Sida rhombifolia, known as Cuban-jute, arrowleaf sida, or escobilla, is a perennial or short-lived herb to subshrub in the family Malvaceae of pantropical distribution, regarded as native to the American tropics but widely naturalized throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Plants are erect, much-branched, and 30-150 cm tall, with slender wiry stems clothed in fine stellate hairs and a tough fibrous bark that has historically been used for cordage. Leaves are alternate, rhombic to lanceolate, 2-7 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, with toothed margins on the upper two-thirds, an entire base, and a finely stellate-hairy lower surface; the petiole is short and the small linear stipules persist at the leaf base. Flowers are solitary in the leaf axils on slender pedicels, opening pale yellow to orange-yellow with a darker centre, 8-15 mm across, with five obovate petals and a column of fused stamens characteristic of the family. Flowering occurs through much of the year in suitable climates. The fruit is a schizocarp of 8-12 wedge-shaped mericarps each bearing two small apical awns. The species inhabits roadsides, waste ground, pastures, and disturbed clearings on a wide range of soils.