Bur Mallow

The identity of Urena procumbens has been confused, with most authors including it within U. sinuata Linnaeus, and others, such as Guerke (Fl. Brasil. 12, 3: 457-596. 1892), suggesting that it might not belong to the Malvaceae. Hu (Fl. China, Malvaceae [Fam. 153], 178. 1955) typified this taxon as a close relative of the more widely distributed U. sinuata, distinguished by the relatively narrower leaf blades, not orbicular in outline, with uniform, not heterogeneous, hairs.

Subshrubs to 80 cm tall. Branches procumbent; branchlets stellate puberulent. Stipules subulate, ca. 1.5 mm, caducous; petiole 4-15 mm, hairy; leaf blades on proximal part of stem palmately 3-5-lobed to 1/2 blade, lobes rhomboid or obovate, gourd-shaped, 1-7 × 1-4 cm, both surfaces shortly stellate hirsute or densely woolly tomentose, base rounded to nearly cordate, margin serrate, apex obtuse. Flowers solitary or nearly fascicled, axillary. Pedicel 2-3 mm. Epicalyx ca. 7 mm, connate for ca. 1/3 length, sparsely stellate hairy. Calyx shorter than or nearly as long as epicalyx, lobes ovate, acute, stellate. Petals pink or white, 1-1.5 cm. Staminal column glabrous, as long as petals. Fruit globose, ca. 6 mm in diam., spiny and hirsute with long hairs and hooked spines. Seeds glabrous. Fl. Jun-Sep.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Zhejiang.

● Scrub; 500 m.