Home | > | List of families | > | Amaranthaceae | > | Pupalia | > | micrantha |
Synonyms: |
Cyathula prostrata (Linn.) Blume var. grandiflora Suesseng. Pupalia psilotrichoides Suesseng. |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Bushy or straggling annual herb up to 1.5 m tall but usually smaller, branches divaricate from the base upwards, more or less densely whitish pubescent. Leaves lanceolate-ovate to elliptic, 5.5–15 cm long, dark green, thinly hairy above, paler and more densely and shortly pubescent beneath; leaves of upper part of stem and branches much reducing in size; petiole 0.5–1.8 cm. Inflorescences solitary or paired in the leaf axils, up to 4–5 together at the ends of the stem and branches, simple or sometimes branched, elongating when flowers open, up to c. 25 cm long, more or less densely hairy. Bracts lanceolate-ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, persistent, more or less thinly hairy, each subtending a single triad of one fertile and two sterile flowers. Tepals oblong-ovate, 2.75–3.5 mm long, green with broad white margins, outer 2 tepals slightly longer and broader. Sterile flowers bearing c. 5–8 hooked setae up to c. 2 mm long, not forming a dense “burr” or concealing the fertile flower. Fruit an ovoid, somewhat compressed capsule c. 1.75–2 mm long. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | micrantha: small-flowered. |
Habitat: | In thickets and forest, usually in shade and not far from water, sometimes in tall grassland and as a weed of disturbed ground. |
Altitude range: (metres) | Up to 1200 m |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Recorded from Ivory Coast, Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Madagascar. Apparently introduced in Taiwan and Western Australia. |
Zimbabwe distribution: | N |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Thursday 26 April 2018 |
Literature: |
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 16. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 22. Townsend, C.C. (1988). Amaranthaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1) Pages 88 - 90. (Includes a picture). |
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