Malachra alceifolia

Native from Mexico through tropical America, it is a perennial herb or small shrub often found on disturbed ground. Its stems bear stiff hairs mixed with smaller star-shaped hairs. Yellow flowers form compact clusters in the leaf axils, surrounded by pointed, leaflike bracts that can have pale patches between their veins. Unlike many related mallows, the individual flowers lack a separate ring of bracts immediately beneath the calyx. The fruit separates into small, finely hairy, one-seeded segments. Photographed in the department of Atlantico, Colombia.