DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME COMMON WEEDS 201 



out bractlets. Calyx lobes shorter than the petals; car- 

 pels ten or more, indehiscent, rugose and usually one- 

 seeded. From South Dakota to Texas and New Mexico 

 and west to British Columbia. 



Prickly Sida (Sida spinosa, L.). A finely pubescent 

 annual, growing ten to twenty inches high ; ovate-lanceo- 

 late leaves, sometimes oblong, sharply toothed and borne 

 on long petioles ; flowers yellow, axillary and solitary, the 

 calyx being five-cleft, and the petals five ; carpels five, 

 united into one fruit, splitting at the top into two beaks ; 

 seeds dark brown, rather crescent shaped, smooth and 

 only one inch long. Found on dry ground or waste 

 places from Maine westward as far as Iowa and south- 

 ward to Florida and Texas. 



Paroquet Bur (Sida stipulata, Cav.). A nearly smooth 

 herb with erect or curving stem ; leaves lanceolate or 

 oblong; stipules linear-subulate, longer than the petioles, 

 flowers single or clustered, reddish or yellowish ; carpels 

 reticulated and two incurved spines. A troublesome weed, 

 common in the southern states from Florida westward. 



Mallow, Cheeses (Malva rotundifolia, L.). A creeping 

 procumbent, coming from a deep biennial or annual 

 root ; stems from one to two feet long ; leaves round, heart- 

 shaped on long petioles ; flowers clustered in the axils, 

 whitish ; calyx with a three-leaved involucel at the base ; 

 five sepals united at the base and persistent ; corolla five 

 petals ; stamens monadelphous, anthers opening along the 

 top ; pistils, several, united into a ring forming a several- 

 seeded pod, seeds triangular kidney-shaped. This weed is 

 widely distributed throughout eastern North America. 



Okra or Gumbo (Hibiscus esculentus, L.). An annual 

 from two to four feet high ; leaves cordate, five-lobed, ob- 

 tuse, toothed, petioles longer than flowers ; involucre 

 about five-leaved, dropping after flowering; calyx cleft; 

 stamens monadelphous, fruit elongated, five-celled ; pod 



