278 MALVACEAE (MALLOW FAMILY) 
poisonous, but Pammel! states that “there is no evidence to sup- 
port this view.” (Fig. 194.) 
Stems two to ten inches in height, growing in tufts from a peren- 
nial deep-boring taproot. Alternate leaves but 
one or two inches long, rounded oval in outline 
but deeply three- to five-lobed and the seg- 
ments again incised; lower leaves with slender 
petioles but those above nearly sessile. Flowers 
in crowded terminal racemes on each of the 
numerous stalks, brick red in color, each blos- 
som a half-inch or more across, the five petals 
often slightly notched at the tips and longer 
than the pointed calyx-lobes; styles five or 
more, surrounded by the ring of many united 
stamens. Carpels, ten to fifteen, rough, net- 
veined, and usually but one-seeded. 
‘Means of control 
Fic. 194.—Req Infested pastures should be broken up and 
False Mallow (Mal- reseeded to better forage. Until this is done 
vastrum cocetneum). such weeds can be guarded against only by 
a herding away from them the animals for which 
they seem to be unwholesome. 
PRICKLY SIDA 
Sida spinosa, L. 
Other English names: Thistle Mallow, Spiny Sida. 
Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: Late May to September. 
Seed-time: July to October. 
Range: Maine to Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas, southward to 
Florida and Texas. 
Habitat: Dry clay soils; fields, gardens, pastures, and waste 
places. . 
An emigrant from tropical America, which is gradually gaining 
ground to the north and the west. Stems eight to twenty inches 
1 Manual of Poisonous Plants. 
