Tall Sida (Sida calyxhymenia) in the Western Australian rangelands

Page last updated: Tuesday, 6 July 2021 - 9:32am

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

Tall sida (Sida calyxhymenia) is one of many plant species found in the Western Australian rangelands. This page provides a summary of the plant's value for pastoralism. Pastoral lessees and station managers can use this information to assess pasture condition and trend.

Indicator value

Tall sida is an indicator of good pasture condition when present as a vigorous population that includes strongly established juvenile plants. Pastures that are in fair or poor condition are likely to have no established juvenile tall sida plants and the adult plants will look stunted and heavily grazed if the pasture is overused.

Forage value

Tall sida is palatable to livestock and highly drought resilient. It can potentially live for many decades. 

Habitat

Mulga.

General description

Tall sida is an erect shrub that can grow to about 2m tall. It has fine, branched hairs on the young stems and leaves that make it rough to touch and the branch structure is intricate and dense. The leaves can appear silvery because of the covering of fine hairs and are grey on the underside, up to 20mm long by 8mm wide, usually with a toothed leaf edge. The leaves have stalks of 4–5mm. Five yellow petals with broad membranous sepals below make up the flower. The sepals enlarge and persist as the conical and grooved 5mm diameter fruit develops. After the fruit matures, the 5 seed segments split and break away.

Contact information

Kath Ryan
+61 (0)8 9166 4015
Matthew Fletcher
+61 (0)8 9166 4019