Pilea fontana (Lunell) Rydb. - Black-fruited Clearweed


 

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Pilea fontana - (image 1 of 3)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Urticaceae

Habitat

Moist woods and floodplains, springy areas.

Associates

 

Distribution

Quebec west to MN, south to FL, LA, and OK.

Morphology

Monoecious or dioecious annual to 50 cm, with smooth and pellucid (translucent) stems and leaves; leaves opposite, scarcely shiny, ovate, to 12 cm, serrate to crenate-serrate, cuneate to rounded at the base on long petioles; flowers borne in cymes from the middle and upper leaf axils; calyx persistent, deeply lobed, the lobes about equal; calyx of male flowers 4-parted; stamens 4; calyx of female flowers 3-parted; stigma sessile; achenes dark purple or dark olivaceous to nearly black, pale-margined, irregularly elevated on the sides, broadly ovate, 1.3-2 mm long and 70-85% as wides; seeds tuberculate.

Notes

Flowers July to October

Wetland indicator: FACW

Very similar to Pilea pumila (L.) A. Gray which has leaves that are more translucent and shiny and achenes that are green to yellowish and usually marked with purple on the sides (vs. dark purple to dark greenish-black to black with pale margins). Probably less common than P. pumila but not necessarily rare.

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 © 2009