Plant: perennial herb; trailing stems with a mixture of stellate hairs and some semi-lepidote hairs

Leaves: more or less reniform, serrate, obtuse to subacute, dentate, 1-3.5 cm long

Flowers: solitary in leaf axils; with the pedicel subequal to corresponding petiole; bractlets of involucel filiform (sometimes absent); calyx 8-10 mm long, stellate-pubescent; petals 12-15 mm long

Fruit: FRUITS oblate schizocarp, ca. 7 mm diameter; mericarps; SEEDS solitary, glabrous

Misc: On roadsides and in fields, often in saline soils;; 50-1500 m (100-5000 ft); flowering throughout the year, or at least in summer months more northerly

REFERENCES: Fryxell, Paul A. 1994. Malvaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 222-236.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Trailing stems with a mixture of stellate hairs and lepidote scales.

Leaves: Triangular, acute, irregularly dentate, 1-2 cm long.

Flowers: Pedicel subequal to the corresponding leaf, involucel usually absent, calyx 6-8 mm long, lepidote, petals 12-15 mm long.

Fruits: Oblate, 5-6 mm in diameter, mericarps about 7, dorsally rounded.

Ecology: Found in heavy, saline soils on roadsides or mud flats from 4,500-5,500 ft (1372-1676 m); flowers throughout year.

Notes: The stellate puberulence on the backs of the petals is a striking character.

Ethnobotany: Used for dysentery, diarrhea, and inflammation of the bowels. 

Etymology: Malvella is a diminutive of Malva meaning little malva, while leprosa means scurfy or spotted like a leper.

Synonyms: Sida hederacea, S. leprosa, S. leprosa var. hederacea

Editor: SBuckley, 2010