Balai grand

Sida linifolia (balai grand, flax-leaved sida) is an erect annual or short-lived perennial herb in the Malvaceae, native to tropical Africa and the Americas and now widely naturalized across the pantropics. Plants reach 30-100 cm in height with slender, sparsely branched stems covered in stellate hairs and stinging bristles. The leaves are alternate, simple, linear to narrowly oblong, 2-7 cm long and 2-6 mm wide, with serrate margins and short petioles. Pale yellow to cream-coloured flowers about 8-12 mm across are borne singly or in small axillary clusters; they have five obovate petals, a tubular calyx with five lobes, and a central staminal column typical of the family. The fruit is a schizocarp of 5-7 mericarps, each tipped with two short awns. It is a common weed of waste ground, roadsides, savannas, and fallow farmland in West Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean.