Plants annual or perennial herbs; stems 20–60(-100) cm tall with 1 main stem, freely branching in lower 1/2, erect or decumbent, hairy, hairs scattered, 1-3 mm across, appressed, 2-4-rayed, swollen-based. Leaves stipulate and petiolate: stipules persistent, lanceolate, subfalcate to falcate, 3–6 × 0.5–1 mm, tips acuminate; petioles 10–20(–40) mm long; blades ovate to ± lanceolate, unlobed, (1.7–)3–4(–6.5) cm long, (0.6–)1.5–3(–5.5) cm wide, 1.1–2.8 times longer than wide, not greatly reduced distally, bases truncate to broadly-rounded or wide-cuneate, margins dentate to serrate, tips acute, surfaces sparsely hairy, hairs 2–4-rayed, stellate or adaxial hairs simple. Inflorescences axillary, of solitary flowers, flowers subsessile, sometimes congested towards branch tips; floral bracts absent. pedicels 1–2 mm, elongating to 3–5 mm in fruit; involucellar bractlets basally adnate to calyces for 0.5–1 mm, lanceolate, subfalcate, 4–6 × 0.6–1 mm, shorter than calyx lobes, tips acute.
Malvastrum coromandelianum is native to the Americas but is now widely established in the Old World. It was first reported from Somaliland in 2022 where it was initially found on a farm but subsequently collected from the University of Hargeisa campus.