Sida acuta, packet of 20 seeds, Organic
$3.95
Family: Mallow (Malvaceae)
Hardy to Zones 8 to 11, otherwise grown as a 90 day annual
(Common Wireweed, Mahabal) Perennial taprooted subshrub native to South America and introduced throughout tropical regions. USDA lists this as a native plant in the American South and Hawaii, and the distribution is currently pantropical. The plant grows from 1 to 5 feet in height and flowers yellow. Wherever it grows, the plant is utilized in herbal medicine and considered potent and helpful. The whole plant may be made into a tincture that contains alkaloids and flavonoids. The seeds contain phytoecdysteroids. The whole plant extract is considered emollient, analgesic, antimalarial, antivenin, and perhaps most importantly antibacterial to Staph, E-coli, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium. The plant is used in treating Lyme disease and Lyme co-infections. The root is antifungal. The plant accumulates heavy metals and can be used in bioremediation of polluted sites, but for medicinal use the plant should be grown only in clean, organic sites. This plant does well in disturbed soils and is a weed of agricultural fields. Once started, it will grow quickly in standard garden soil in the sun. Full germination of seeds requires 1 to 3 months of moist, warm conditions but my trials showed partial germination after only four days in warm, moist, shade. Scarify on medium grit sandpaper, barely cover seed with soil, tamp securely and keep moist and shaded until the seeds germinate. Work up in pots and space 2 feet apart.
20 seeds per packet, certified organically grown
In stock
Question
Lynn Armocida (verified owner) –
Hi Richo, would my sida acuta be likely to self-seed in my zone 6 Pennsylvania garden, do you think? Thanks!
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Richo Cech –
Hi Lynn, Thanks for contacting. I do think it will self-seed. Richo
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Lynn Armocida (verified owner) –
Only took a few weeks to germinate after a good sandpaper scarifying! Now I have a lovely little plant ready to pop in the garden.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Lynn, I also noticed that the germination times listed for this plant were long according to my tests. Sometimes fresh seed germinates fast and stored seed takes on dormancy. We, too, are growing Sida acuta again this year, in response to popular demand. Richo
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Question
Sally –
Would you suggest starting sida acuta seed in the spring, indoors?
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Richo Cech –
hi sally, yes, either that or direct seed to the garden. a very easy botanical. richo
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cindy burg (verified owner) –
when should this be harveted? need to make into a tincture. use fresh or dried plant? thinking i can dehydrate for storage. any info would be helpful.
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Richo Cech –
hi cindy, i would suggest re-reading the writeup on this website because some of that info seems relevant to your question. this is a traditional medicinal plant that is harvested usually in early flower and used fresh or dried. richo
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Paul –
Hey do you ship to Australia?
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Richo Cech –
hi paul, used to, all the time. had to shut it down around COVID, AUS just wasn’t letting the seeds in. richo
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Question
Dawn Cline –
what is the best soil and compost? I buy organic soils, but I would like your input. I make my own compost and only eat organic, pasture raised foods ( so my eggshells and kitchen scraps are safe) I add red worms to my compost bin and food grade diatomaceous earth to keep out flies.
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Richo Cech –
hi dawn, it is good to use compost in the starter mix and put a little compost under each plant when it goes out to the garden. sida is not a heavy feeder and will actually do fine in standard garden soils even without compost. your compost sounds absolutely great! r
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Joy –
Is this the same thing as ‘common mallow’?
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Richo Cech –
Hello Joy, not in my reckoning, although common names are freely thrown around. common mallow should be Malva neglecta and bears no advantage over marshmallow (Althaea officinalis). Sida is in the mallow family, though. richo
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Question
natureguycitygal –
Going through this website- plant by plant and reading the descriptions this is the first plant (Sida acuta) where you mention a plant that will be capable of absorbing stuff that is not good! In this case- heavy metals. Well, plants that can absorb heavy metals as well as excessive salts in the soil can be a very good thing! Do you not agree?
The majority of peoples now living in North America are living in polluted conditions both from above as well as below. Nice if we could wave a magic wand to correct the damages we have done to these lands in the last 250 years or so. What matters most is that we control our horrific consumption. We treat Life as though we were all COOKIE MONSTERS..”yum-yum!” Or even worse “Pac-Man” creatures or Steven King’s “The Langoliers” chomping our way through this Earth as though all resources were Infinite or in the latter case removing one existence in time to be shortly replaced by another!
Secondly is HOW DO WE REPAIR THE DAMAGE WE HAVE DONE?
You may not have considered the significance with putting it out there that this plant… possibly other plants take up pathogens from the soil.
What other plants would you consider as “Soil & Air Purifiers”? I know of a few… but I would like to see you take some responsibility for making this a better Earth… not just by selling plants that can help our physical and psychic selves but that we may still have a place to live in the next half century. YOU are in the lead… at least you are if your concerns are more than making a buck!
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Richo Cech –
Hi. Thanks for your thoughtful and impassioned message. I agree with you that planting trees is probably the best thing we can do to repair a damaged ecosystem. When plants like equisetum, skullcap, nettles, sunflowers, calamus, sida, etc. fix excessive nitrates, heavy metals or other potentially harmful substances it is good to know that the ones we use for medicine should be grown only in pure areas, so that we don’t ingest concentrations of deleterious molecules. Some of these plants can transmute some of these substances and make them harmless, but if used for bioremediation I recommend composting the plant, not consuming it right off. You can check our writeup on calamus for an example of a good bioremediator that we do have in stock. We sell it for money because we have to make paycheck otherwise we can’t continue with our real work, which is to help people grow more plants to aid an ailing earth. richo
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Sara gerbi –
Hi,
Do you ship to Israel? We are not in the EU! I hope so,this herb is urgently neede
Thanks,
Sara
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Richo Cech –
Hi Sara, We do ship to Israel and we do not guarantee receipt. Richo
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T –
Hi do you ship to the UK as we are not counted as EU anymore?
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Richo Cech –
Hello, Right, we tried this, it worked for awhile, and then about 3 months ago the UK started to destroy our shipments at customs. Very sorry to not be able to serve our valued international gardening friends! Richo
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T (verified owner) –
Loves the Florida heat! I’ve seen other varieties growing here but not as voraciously as this one. Started making medicine within a month. Thousands of seeds now. Thank you!!!!
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Jason Allison (verified owner) –
Planting depth?
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Richo Cech –
Scarify on medium grit sandpaper, barely cover seed with soil, tamp securely and keep moist and shaded until the seeds germinate.
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