Caesarweed (Urena lobata Linnaeus) is a member of the Malvaceae, the mallow family, having pink flowers like miniature hollyhocks. As a pantropical weed, it is uncertain where caesarweed originated. It has been placed in South America, Florida, and even Australia, but many taxonomists now believe it evolved somewhere in Asia.

Caesarweed grows to 2 meters (6 feet) in height. The lobed leaves are covered in stellate trichomes (star-shaped plant hairs) which give the leaves a grayish color and raspy feel. The derivation of the common name is uncertain, but may have come from the Latin caesius "bluish-gray" or caesariatus "covered in hair".

The ovary of the flower is five-carpellate. If pollinated, each carpel or chamber will produce a seed. The fruit, about a centimeter in diameter, is a flattened globe and dries when mature. It snaps easily from the plant and each of the five wedge-shaped mericarps separate. The outer surface of each mericarp is covered with glochids, minute hooked spines that cling to fabrics and fur and tangle in hair.

In Florida, cattle aid the spread of caesarweed both by carrying the seeds and disturbing the soil thus reducing competing plants like grass. The plant is frequently found in pastures and rangelands; it is often a monoculture in little-used corrals.

Although caesarweed is considered a nuisance species in many areas, it is cultivated in Brazil and the Congo. The plant is grown for its bast fibers—long, narrow cells produced in the phloem tissue. Bast fibers are tough and flexible and serve to support the plant. Caesarweed fibers, called "aramina" in Brazil and "Congo jute" in Africa, are strong and lustrous and used to make burlap, sacking, and twine.

(Compiled from: Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida, Richard P. Wunderlin, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1998; "Urena lobata L.", John K. Francis, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; "Malvaceae", Tang Ya, Flora of China, eFloras, Harvard University)