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Sida cordifolia; photograph (c) Aparna, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Aparna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-19

Sida cordifolia L.

Country mallow; Flannel weed; `ilima; Flannel sida

Malvaceae · Cape Verde, Benin +111

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Sida cordifolia, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSida cordifolia, photograph (c) Zoe Anthony Quested, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sida cordifolia, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Sida cordifolia, photograph (c) Tony van Kampen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sida cordifolia, photograph (c) Josiah Londerée, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sida cordifolia, photograph (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) 79 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
9.7°C
Record low 4.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jan, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,124mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sida cordifolia (‘ilima, flannel weed, bala, country mallow or heart-leaf sida) is a perennial subshrub of the mallow family Malvaceae native to India. It has naturalized throughout the world, and is considered an invasive weed in Africa, Australia, the southern United States, Hawaiian Islands, New Guinea, and French Polynesia. The specific name, cordifolia, refers to the heart-shaped leaf.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sida cordifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (733 mm of 996 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 25.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

996 mm in the median year at the habitat, 733 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 226 mm, driest month August at 6 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 643 mm to 1,683 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,124 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 996 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 9.7 °C, the absolute minimum 4.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.1 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 8.6 °C to 22.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.1 °C in December (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +18 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sida cordifolia through the yearWarmest months January, November and December, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 16.1 °C; 996 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°42.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER4.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–43RH 55–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 614 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C31 / 27–3330 / 27–3330 / 26–3329 / 24–3328 / 22–3226 / 19–3025 / 19–3026 / 21–3228 / 23–3530 / 25–3631 / 26–3631 / 27–35
Night °C24 / 20–2624 / 19–2623 / 18–2522 / 16–2520 / 13–2417 / 10–2316 / 9–2217 / 9–2220 / 12–2322 / 15–2523 / 17–2624 / 19–26
Rain mm226 / 86–382220 / 90–363136 / 63–28975 / 30–14727 / 6–11810 / 1–798 / 2–546 / 1–4914 / 3–5940 / 17–9683 / 51–149151 / 81–273
DLI38 / 34–4336 / 32–3935 / 32–3833 / 27–3729 / 22–3527 / 20–3428 / 22–3533 / 27–3939 / 33–4343 / 35–4543 / 35–4541 / 36–44
RH %62 / 56–6663 / 56–6761 / 56–6559 / 52–6458 / 49–6457 / 47–6355 / 46–6255 / 45–6256 / 45–6257 / 47–6359 / 52–6361 / 54–64

Records on both sides of the equator: the 202 cells at least 10° north of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 614 cells that remain: the 559 at least 10° south and the 55 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 614 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (781 records in those cells; 11 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2085:6240 (-14.275, 132.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 614 distinct grid cells holding 781 of the 1024 in-range records (11 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the southern side of the equator (202 cells poleward of 10° north, 559 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2085:6240 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_131.875, lapse-corrected +18 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 139 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Verde, Benin, Burkina, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Comoros, Madagascar, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Howland-Baker Is., Texas, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Ascension, St.Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Yemen, New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Hawaii, Alabama · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-14.273, 143.449 · in the densest population, 263 records (15% of those in range)
Extinct inSocotra · recorded as extinct by WCVP: history, not habitat; no records are tested against these regions
Kew's description“annual or subshrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1770 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 781 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1024 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1376 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1246 km away. 35 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 746 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1770 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sida cordifolia, photograph 1did not loadSida cordifolia, photograph 2did not loadSida cordifolia, photograph 3did not loadSida cordifolia, photograph 4did not loadSida cordifolia, photograph 5did not loadSida cordifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Zoe Anthony Quested, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Tony van Kampen, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Josiah Londerée, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Lobelia stenophylla Lobelia stenophylla Campanulaceae Photo: CC BY, Lucas ChristofidesBlumea axillaris Blumea axillaris Asteraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloExocarpos latifolius Exocarpos latifolius Broad Leaved Native Cherry Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioJacquemontia paniculata Jacquemontia paniculata Convolvulaceae Photo: CC BY, smathichongCassytha filiformis Cassytha filiformis Love-vine Photo: CC BY, Andrew AllenVigna vexillata Vigna vexillata Zombi pea Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández

Other Sida 12 in the reference

Sida abutilifolia Sida abutilifolia Spreading fanpetals Photo: CC BY, Sam KieschnickSida acuta Sida acuta Common wireweed Photo: CC BY, Raja Sekhar ChimiralaSida ciliaris Sida ciliaris Bracted fanpetals Photo: CC0, author not statedSida cordata Sida cordata Heartleaf fanpetals Photo: CC BY, Krzysztof ZiarnekSida fallax Sida fallax Yellow `ilima Photo: CC0, author not statedSida petrophila Sida petrophila Malvaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Mark MarathonSida planicaulis Sida planicaulis Flatstem sida Photo: CC BY, Mark RichmanSida poeppigiana Sida poeppigiana Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Eric SchmidtSida rhombifolia Sida rhombifolia Queensland-hemp Photo: CC0, author not statedSida spinosa Sida spinosa Prickly mallow Photo: CC0, author not statedSida subcordata Sida subcordata Subcordate Sida Photo: CC BY, Ian CowieSida ulmifolia Sida ulmifolia Broom weed Photo: CC BY, Aidan Fern

Names & registers

Also known as Abutilon ramosum; Sida altheifolia; Sida cordifolia var. altheifolia; Sida densiflora; Sida rotundifolia and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina +110
Wild records
1770 in range · 1376 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 14 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -14.50_131.875, lapse-corrected +18 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 209 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…