Acalypha rhomboidea Raf. - Common Three-seeded Mercury


 

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Acalypha rhomboidea - (image 1 of 4)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Habitat

Dry or moist soil of open woods, roadsides, gardens, and other disturbed areas.

Associates

 

Distribution

Quebec to ND, south to FL and TX.

Morphology

Annual; stems erect, simple or branched, 20-60 cm, glabrous or puberulent with incurved hairs, often also with spreading hairs; petioles slender, divaricate, often more than half as long as the blades on larger leaves; blades spreading, lanceolate to ovate, tending to be rhombic; pistillate bracts with 5-9 lobes, usually stipitate-glandular but without long hairs; staminate spikes scarcely exceeding the bracts; seeds 3, 1-2 mm..

Notes

Flowers May to October

Wetland indicator: FACU

Acalypha deamii (Weath.) Ahles is similar but has only 2 seeds per fruit and these larger (2-3 mm); it occurs locally from southern OH and southern IN to TN and AR. Other species typically have pistillate bracts with more than 9 lobes.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

 


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© Michael Hough 2018