Introduced. Biennial or perennial. Propagated by seeds. Time of bloom: May to October. Seed-time: June to November.

Range: Throughout North America except the extreme North. Habitat: Cultivated ground; waste places.

The deep, branching roots of this plant seem to spread nearly as far beneath the soil as its creeping stems spread above it; the latter are six inches to nearly two feet long, round, smooth, branched at the base. Leaves rounded or kidney-shaped, on long, slender petioles, heart-shaped at base, five to nine-ribbed and -lobed, scallop-toothed, with edges often crisped. Flowers pale pink, veined with deeper pink, clustered or single in the axils; calyx-lobes five, hairy, ovate, pointed, about half the length of the petals, which are notched at the outer edge; styles many, stig-matic down the inner side, longer than the stamens which are united in a column, the anthers at the summit, the pollen grains very large and white-dike pearls when seen through a lens. Carpels as many as styles arranged in a circle, one-seeded; when green they are mucilaginous and sweet - the "cheeses" that children like to eat. (Fig. 197.)

Fig. 196. - Paroquet Bur (Sida acuta). X 1/4.

Means of control Hand-pulling or deep hoe-cutting before the development of seed.