Baraira / Horn Bean Leaved Sida
Sida acuta
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Found in India
- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Sida acuta
- Genus
- Sida
- Family
- Malvaceae
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Habitat
- Dry and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Native to
- Pantropical
- Distribution
- Pantropical
- Found in India
- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Recorded for Baraira.
Flower & fruit characters
Typical of the Malvaceae family — flowering plants only; individual species can differ.
Local Names
- Hindi
- Baraira
- Nepali
- बलु झार Balu Jhaar, कुरो Kuro, सानो चिल्या Saano Chilya
- Bengali
- বেড়েলা
- Tamil
- அரிவாள்மனைப் பூண்டு Arivaḷmanaip puṇṭu, Palambasi, அரிவாள்மனைப் பூண்டு
- Telugu
- Muttavapulagamu
- Kannada
- ಭೀಮನಕಡ್ಡಿ Bheemana kaddi, ವಿಷಕಡ್ಡಿ Visha kaddi
- Malayalam
- Malatanni Shiruparuva, മലങ്കുറുന്തോട്ടി
- Marathi
- चिकना Chikana, चिकना
Baraira in India
Bala is a wiry, tough-stemmed weed of roadsides used both as a broom and in Ayurveda — Baraira (Hindi), அரிவாள்மனைப் பூண்டு Arivaḷmanaip puṇṭu (Tamil), Muttavapulagamu (Telugu), ಭೀಮನಕಡ್ಡಿ Bheemana kaddi (Kannada), Malatanni Shiruparuva (Malayalam), चिकना Chikana (Marathi). Sida acuta is recorded across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, on waste ground and field edges.
Uses
Its tough fibrous stems are tied into household brooms, and the plant (the Ayurvedic 'bala' group) has long-standing attributed uses as a strengthening tonic — described for information, not medical advice. As a fibre and fodder plant it is also locally useful.
How to Identify Baraira
A small, wiry, much-branched undershrub with narrow, sharply toothed lance-shaped leaves. It bears small pale-yellow to cream five-petalled flowers singly or in pairs at the leaf joints, and the stem fibre is notably tough and stringy.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Horn bean leaved sida called in different Indian languages?
- Baraira (Hindi); அரிவாள்மனைப் பூண்டு Arivaḷmanaip puṇṭu (Tamil); Muttavapulagamu (Telugu); ಭೀಮನಕಡ್ಡಿ Bheemana kaddi (Kannada); Malatanni Shiruparuva (Malayalam); चिकना Chikana (Marathi); বেড়েলা (Bengali).
- What is bala (Sida) used for?
- Its tough stems are made into brooms, and it is a classical Ayurvedic 'bala' tonic herb — an attributed traditional use, not medical advice.
- How do you identify Sida acuta?
- Look for a wiry undershrub with narrow toothed leaves, small pale-yellow five-petalled flowers, and very tough stringy stems.
Malvaceae
Mallow/Hibiscus family
Baraira belongs to the Malvaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
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View all Malvaceae →Sources: GBIF — Sida acuta (India distribution & vernacular names) (CC BY 4.0) · iNaturalist — Sida acuta (regional names, India observations) (CC BY 4.0) · Wikipedia — Sida acuta (background/comprehension only) (CC BY-SA 4.0)