Plants annual or perennial herbs or dwarf shrubs, usually with stellate hairs. Leaves stipulate; stipules filiform to lanceolate; blades usually entire, rearely 3(-5)-lobed. Inflorescences axillary, flowers solitary, paired, in clusters, heads, spikes racemes, or panicles. Epicalyces not present; calyces 5-lobed, lobes triangular, usually 1-veined; ovaries of 5-13(-15) carpels, each with 1 ovule around a central torus; styles with as many branches as there aer carpels. Fruits flattened to globose schizocarps; mericarps indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent, variously sculptured.
Sida includes around 200 species. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. Many species are weedy; some yield useful fibres.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
