Spiny sida

Sida spinosa, the prickly or spiny sida, is an erect, much-branched annual or short-lived perennial herb in the family Malvaceae, probably native to tropical America but now a pantropical weed of pastures, roadsides, cultivated fields and disturbed ground. It typically grows 30-100 cm tall, with slender, finely stellate-hairy stems that bear small, blunt, spine-like projections at the bases of the petioles - the diagnostic feature that gives the plant its name. The alternate leaves are narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 1.5-5 cm long, finely toothed, and softly hairy beneath. Small five-petalled pale yellow to cream flowers about 6-8 mm across are produced solitarily or in small axillary clusters from late spring to autumn, opening only briefly each morning, and are followed by ribbed schizocarps splitting into five awned mericarps that adhere to passing animals.