Flannel weed

Sida cordifolia

A long-lived (i.e. perennial) herbaceous plant or small shrub (i.e. sub-shrub) with upright (i.e. erect), branching stems. It usually grows 50-100 cm tall, but occasionally reaches up to 2 m in height.

The stems are usually slender and quite wiry, but sometimes they can be slightly woody in nature. Stems and leaves are densely covered in soft whitish-coloured hairs that give them a felty texture.
The leaves are alternately arranged and are borne on stalks (i.e. petioles) 1-6 cm long. Their leaf blades (15-75 mm long and 10-60 mm wide) are heart-shaped (i.e. cordate) or occasionally broadly egg-shaped in outline (i.e. broadly-ovate). They usually have rounded tips (i.e. obtuse apices) and toothed (i.e. crenate or serrate) margins.

The flowers are densely clustered in the upper leaf forks (i.e. axils) or at the tips of the stems. They are borne on short stalks (i.e. peduncles) 2-4 mm long that elongate slightly as the fruit mature. Each flower has five yellow to pale orange petals (8-10 mm long), which often have a dark orange spot near their bases. The bases of the five sepals are partially fused together into a tube (i.e. calyx tube), with ten lengthwise ribs and five lobes (6-7 mm long). Flowering occurs throughout most of the year, but is most apparent in summer.