Sida

I can't remember how I came by the name of this plant, maybe it was from Alice Stein, an avid photographer from Buffalo, New York. She made several trips to the Amazon over the years and put together a fabulous collection of images, mostly from Bosque Santa Lucia and the Santarem region. Not being satisfied with mere images, she would research the subject matter at universities and research institutes in the United States until she came up with the proper names. In the case of sida, it's a plant found from northern Brazil to Argentina, but really proliferates in the tropical savanna soils of this region. I haven't found documentation to prove it, but I think there is one species of sida that carries the name of Santarem because it was found in such abundance here. The plant in the attached image is at Bosque Santa Lucia, which isn't tropical savanna. I transferred a few plants there about three years ago. They didn't do well at all and I eventually forgot about them. I was amazed to find this small plant and beautiful flower at the Bosque this week. I assume it must have developed from a seed of the of the original plants.