taxonID	type	description	language	source
03FB87833D6DFFB7FF1ECEDCF59DEB0F.taxon	materials_examined	TYPE: — BRAZIL. Paraíba: João Pessoa, Engenho Velho, nas imediações da Granja Santa Júlia, 7 º 34 ’ S, 34 º 90 ’ W, 9.5 – 13.5 m, 11 September 2020 (fl., fr.), Baracho 2242 (holotype JPB, isotype UFP). Erect herbs 40 – 100 cm tall, stems and branches pubescent, with minute stellate multiradiate trichomes, 8 – 16 rayed, mixed with longer, sparse simple trichomes. Stipules 4.5 – 8.5 × 0.8 – 1.5 mm, 1 – 2 - nerved, narrowly lanceolate to smooth subulate, asymmetric, glabrescent with minute sparse stellate multiradiate trichomes sometimes mixed with sparse ciliate simple trichomes, slightly exceeding the petiole. Petiole 3 – 5 mm long, cylindrical to slightly compressed, stellate multiradiate pubescent. Leaf blades 2.0 – 6.0 × 0.6 – 1.0 cm, symmetric, concolor, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, basally obtuse to subcordate, 3 – (6) - nerved, margin irregularly dentate to base, apex acute or sometimes acuminate, glabrous to glabrescent; the upper surface smooth pubescent with minute stellate multiradiate trichomes; the lower surface rarely with minute simple trichomes. Inflorescences solitary and axillary to terminal. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils or congested apically through shortened internodes; axillary pedicels c. ½ shorter than the adjacent petiole, articulated c. 2 mm long below the calyx, glabrous to glabrescent, minute multiradiate pubescent. Calyx 7.0 – 8.0 × 5.0 – 7.0 mm, pyramidal-pentangular, not accrescent when flowering or accrescent in fruiting, prominently 10 - ribbed, glabrescent, the simple trichomes more frequently on lacinae, greenish; lozenge-shaped sepals, the lobes 4.0 – 5.0 × 4.2 – 5.0 mm, acuminate, apex sometimes caudate and recurved on the fruit, internally glabrous. Corolla 8 – 10 mm in diameter; petals c. 8.0 × 4.5 – 6.5 mm, oboval, asymmetric, usually with slightly greenish-yellow center, margin sparsely ciliate and slightly pilose at base; stamens 25 – 30, free filaments c. 0.5 mm, sparsely pilose and organized into 4 – 5 phalanges, staminal column c. 1.5 mm long, cylindric, yellowish, with simple and forked minute trichomes; ovary 1.0 – 1.5 × 1.8 – 2.0 mm, compressed, glabrous, carpels (9) 10 – 12, free styles (9) 10 – 12, c. 1 mm long, cylindrical, recurving at anthesis, greenish-yellow, stigma capitate, greenish-yellow. Schizocarp 3.6 – 4.0 mm long, with apical portion not emerging from the calyx, oblate. Mericarps (9) 10 – 12, 3.0 – 3.8 × 2.0 – 2.8 × 1.2 – 1.5 mm, brownish; apical zone 0.5 – 0.6 mm long, dark brown, the aristae 0.5 – 1.0 mm long, glabrescent and sparsely covered with simple minute trichomes, the external walls smooth, internal walls dehiscent; basal zone 1.5 – 1.8 mm long, dorsal wall rounded and oblong, strongly reticulate and carinate, glabrous or pubescent on apical portion; lateral walls strongly reticulate, semicircular; seeds 1.5 – 2.0 × 1.5 – 2.0 × 0.8 – 1.2 mm, trigonous-reniform, smooth, blackish, hilum pubescent. Columella 1.5 mm long, persistent.	en	Baracho, George Sidney, Filho, Everton De Amorim Freitas, Agra, Maria De Fátima (2025): New and endemic species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae (Malvaceae, Malveae) from Brazil and an updated key to the species of this section. Phytotaxa 704 (3): 283-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6
03FB87833D6DFFB7FF1ECEDCF59DEB0F.taxon	etymology	Etymology: — The epithet refers to section Ellipticifoliae, to which the new species has been inserted.	en	Baracho, George Sidney, Filho, Everton De Amorim Freitas, Agra, Maria De Fátima (2025): New and endemic species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae (Malvaceae, Malveae) from Brazil and an updated key to the species of this section. Phytotaxa 704 (3): 283-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6
03FB87833D6DFFB7FF1ECEDCF59DEB0F.taxon	discussion	Discussion: — Sida is an unwieldy genus. The artificiality of Fryxell’s infrageneric classification (1985 and Krapovickas 2003, for sect. Distichifoliae) has been corroborated by molecular studies by Fuertes et al. (2003) and Pejhanmehr (2022). However, although these studies are potentially enlightening for the phylogenetic understanding of the genus, they are still not entirely sufficient to abandon the current sectional classification, given that some sections adopted by Fryxell (1985), as well as being morphologically distinct, have been shown to be monophyletic. Sida ellipticifolia is the first new endemic species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae from Brazil and represents the first local record of a native specimen of this section, which was previously reported by Bovini (2017) for the state of Paraná (Fig. 3) with the occurrence of S. elliottii Torrey & Gray (1838: 231) var. elliottii, an invasive species of pasture areas which, according to the author, was accidentally introduced into southern Brazil by the importation of agricultural products from the USA. The most distinctive characters of S. ellipticifolia are the simple trichomes mixed in the indumentum of the stem and branches, obtuse leaf base, short and articulated pedicel, lozenge-shaped sepals, and apical portion of the schizocarp not emerging from the calyx, which together are not observed in the other species of this section. Of these, the new species is more similar to S. littoralis from Florida (Fig. 2 B; 3), which may be its closest relative and with which it shares the following attributes: morphology of the leaf blade, the pubescent smooth upper surface with tiny multiradiate trichomes [which Siedo (2014) refers to as stellate], stipules that slightly exceed the petiole, arrangement of the flowers along the branches, calyx accrescent in fruit, longitudinally 10 - ribbed, and mericarps (9) 10 - 12, strongly reticulated dorso-laterally. S. ellipticifolia is the tenth species in its section. In addition, both updated distribution map and identification key for the species Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae are provided below (Fig. 3).	en	Baracho, George Sidney, Filho, Everton De Amorim Freitas, Agra, Maria De Fátima (2025): New and endemic species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae (Malvaceae, Malveae) from Brazil and an updated key to the species of this section. Phytotaxa 704 (3): 283-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6
03FB87833D6DFFB7FF1ECEDCF59DEB0F.taxon	distribution	Distribution and ecology: — The new species is endemic to the far east of the Americas, in north-eastern Brazil, and has been recorded in the Littoral zone of the municipality of João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba (Fig. 2 C), in ruderal and disturbed forest areas, occurring at sea level elevations of between 9.5 and 13 m. Sida ellipticifolia and S. littoralis are Neotropical species separated geographically by a gap of 6,500 km. However, although morphologically related, both have almost the same ecological similarity. They are endemic to remnant vegetation in coastal areas and grow preferentially on siliceous substrates of gravel and sand. Harshberger (1914) had already pointed out similarities between the floras of southern Florida and South America, while Cramer (1971) suggested a close palaeogeographical relationship between this American state and northern Brazil and north-eastern Africa. Therefore, reporting taxonomic affinities between two geographically distant species and affirming Brazil as the centre of native occurrence of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae are not such surprising conclusions. Conservation Status: — Sida ellipticifolia has a very restricted extent of occurrence (EOO = 0,000 km 2, CR) and area of occupation (AOO = 4,000 km 2, CR), having only been reported in a single locality in the Littoral phytogeographical zone in Paraíba, Brazil. Although there are forest fragments mixed with sandy soils of restinga vegetation in this area, the specimens were collected in plantation areas, ruderal sites or wastelands, growing in sandy and gravel soils. Therefore, according to the IUCN criteria (2024), S. ellipticifolia is assessed as endangered [(CR B 1 abB 2 abE]. Key to species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae (adapted from Fryxell 1985 and Siedo 2014)	en	Baracho, George Sidney, Filho, Everton De Amorim Freitas, Agra, Maria De Fátima (2025): New and endemic species of Sida sect. Ellipticifoliae (Malvaceae, Malveae) from Brazil and an updated key to the species of this section. Phytotaxa 704 (3): 283-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.704.3.6
