Broomweed

Malvastrum coromandelianum, commonly called false mallow or three-lobe false mallow, is an erect to ascending herb or subshrub in the family Malvaceae, native to the American tropics but now naturalised throughout the tropics and subtropics worldwide. It typically grows 30–100 cm tall, with slender, much-branched stems clothed in stellate or simple appressed hairs. The alternate leaves are ovate to lanceolate, 2–7 cm long, with coarsely serrate margins, three prominent veins from the base, and short petioles. Small yellow flowers, about 1–1.5 cm across, are solitary or in few-flowered axillary clusters; each has five obovate petals, a column of stamens characteristic of the mallow family, and a bracteolate calyx. The fruit is a flattened schizocarp that splits at maturity into 8–14 wedge-shaped mericarps, each bearing two short apical awns. The species colonises waste ground, roadsides, pastures and disturbed open habitats from sea level to about 1,500 m.