Malveopsis C. Presl.

Herbs perennial (sometimes annual) or subshrubs, erect. Leaves simple; stipules lanceolate or falcate; leaf blade ovate or lanceolate, entire or sometimes obscurely 3-lobed, margin crenate or dentate; foliar nectaries lacking. Flowers axillary, solitary or in cymose clusters, sometimes aggregated into terminal spikes. Epicalyx lobes 3, free, subulate or filiform to lanceolate. Calyx cup-shaped, 5-lobed. Corolla yellow or ± orange, broadly campanulate; petals 5, scarcely longer than calyx. Filament tube included within corolla, glabrous or puberulent; anthers clustered at apex. Ovary 5-18-loculed; ovules 1 per locule; styles as many as carpels, slender; stigmas capitate. Fruit a schizocarp, oblate; mericarps 5-18, indehiscent, reddish brown, horseshoe-shaped with a prominent ventral notch, sometimes 2- or 3-cuspidate. Seeds solitary, reniform, glabrous.

Fourteen species: principally in North, Central, and South America, a few ± pantropical weeds; two species (both introduced) in China.