Spinyhead sida (Sida acuta)

Galunggung or common wireweed or spinyhead sida (Sida acuta) is a plant species in the Malvaceae, erect herbaceous, cylindrical stems, branched, dense, green, white-haired, growing in forests, agricultural land, waterways and roadsides.

S. acuta has alternately seated leaves with stalks much shorter than blades. Leaves are simple in shape, lanceolate to linear, rarely ovate to oblong, obtuse at base, taper at apex, margins serrated and widely spaced.

Small flowers, disc-shaped, grow in the axils, 2-3 items in a cluster. Centrally jointed stalk, no epicalix, complete, bisexual, regular, actinomorphic, hypogynous, pentamer and yellow.

Sepal five-part, gamosepalous, campanulate, slightly accressed, persistent, valvate. Petals five-part, polypetalous but slightly connate below and connected by staminal columns, crooked.

Stamens numerous, monadelphous, arranged in staminal columns. Stamina column shorter than calyx, divided above into many filaments, anthers monothecous, reniform, basifixed, short filaments, extrorse. The pollen grains are globose with spikes, about 90 microns in size.

Carples of five items, syncarpous, ovary superior, penta or multilocular with axile placentation, one ovule in each locule. Stigma round, according to the number of carpels. A schizocarpic pepperrp, 1 seed in each pepperrp.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Malvoideae
Tribe: Malveae
Genus: Sida
Species: Sida acuta
Subspecies: Sida acuta ssp. acuta

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