Bur-mallow

Urena lobata is an erect, branching perennial herb or subshrub of the Malvaceae family, typically reaching 0.5 to 2.5 metres tall, with tough, fibrous stems clothed in stellate hairs. The alternate leaves are highly variable in shape, generally palmately three- to five-lobed or angular, 4 to 12 centimetres long and wide, with serrate margins, a cordate base and a star-shaped pubescence on both surfaces; conspicuous nectaries occur on the midrib of the lower leaf surface. Pale pink to rose-coloured five-petalled flowers, 1.5 to 2.5 centimetres across, are borne singly or in small clusters in the leaf axils and are subtended by an epicalyx of five bracteoles fused at the base. The schizocarp fruit splits into five hairy mericarps armed with hooked barbs that readily adhere to clothing and animal fur, aiding dispersal. Native to tropical Asia but now pantropical, the species inhabits roadsides, pastures, fallow fields and disturbed open ground, and is cultivated for its strong bast fibre.