Anoda cristata
(L.) Schltdl. Anoda WeedErect annual or sometimes perennial herb to c. 80 cm high; branches usually hirsute. Leaves triangular-ovate, 3.5–10 cm long, 3–9.5 cm wide, usually 3–5-lobed; base cuneate; margins coarsely dentate; both surfaces with sparse to moderately dense long simple hairs; petiole 2–4 cm long. Flowers solitary, axillary; pedicels 2–6 cm long; calyx lobes 7–11 mm long, elongating to 15 mm in fruit, long-acuminate, densely hirsute or bristly; petals usually pale purple, whitish at the base, 8–12 mm long. Fruit transversely elliptic, 10–20 mm diam., remaining on the widely spreading calyx; mericarps 9–20, bristly or hirsute, beaked dorsally. Flowers mostly summer.
Naturalised in WA, Qld, NSW. Native to Central America, recorded once in Victoria near Rochester in 1969 but apparently has not persisted at this site. This species is a serious weed of irrigated dryland agricultural areas of New South Wales and Queensland.
Spinning
