Acalypha gracilens

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Acalypha gracilens
Acalypha gracilens 1120001.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subtribe: Acalyphinae
Genus: Acalypha
Species:
A. gracilens
Binomial name
Acalypha gracilens
A. Gray
Acalypha gracilens distribution.jpg
Natural range of Acalypha gracilens from USDA NRCS Plants Database.
Synonyms
List
  • Acalypha virginicaMichx.
  • Acalypha virginica var. fraseriMüll.Arg.
  • Acalypha virginica var. gracilens(A.Gray) Riddell
  • Acalypha virginica var. intermediaRiddell
  • Acalypha virginica var. ovalifoliaRiddell
  • Acalypha virginica var. ramosaRiddell
  • Acalypha virginica var. rhombifoliaRiddell
  • Acalypha virginica var. texanaRiddell

Acalypha gracilens is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. Common names include slender threeseed mercury; three-seeded mercury; shortstalk copperleaf; slender copperleaf. It is native to the south-eastern United States.

Contents

Description

Annual. Plant is erect with pubescent stems coming from the taproots. The leaves are alternate with two lateral veins beginning from the base, prominent and parallel to the midrib, crenate to crenate-serrate, or petiolate. The spikes are axillary or terminal, or both. The bracts are leaf-like. There are no petals. The flowers are pistillate with 3–5 sepals and a 3-locular ovary. The staminate flowers with 4 sepals and 8–16 stamens. The capsules are broader than they are long. [1]

The plant grows up to 0.8 m high. The stems are freely branched and densely pubescent with short incurved (or appressed) ascending trichomes. The leaves are elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate which are 2–6 cm long and 0.5–2 cm wide, obtuse, crenate. The base of the leaves are cuneate to rounded, with pubescence of both surfaces (more or less glabrate). The petioles of principle leaves are 0.4–1.5 cm long. The axillary spike has 1–5 pistillate flowers near the base that are interrupted and continued with a spike of staminate flowers. The pistillate bracts are often stipitate-glandular, teeth triangular, 5–13. The seeds are reddish to black in color and are ovoid, 1.2–1.8mm long. The plant is monoecious (female and male flowers exist on the same plant). The female (pistillate) flowers do not have petals but do have 3-5 sepals and 3 locular ovaries, and there will be 3-5 pistillate flowers located near the base of the axillary spike of A. gracilens. The male (staminate) flowers have 4 sepals and 8-16 stamens and interrupt and spike out from the female flowers. [1] Flowers in June and into late frost. [1]

Distribution

A. gracilens is found throughout the south-eastern U.S. coastal plain and piedmont, eastern Midwest, and New England. [1]

Ecology

Habitat

In the south-eastern U.S. coastal plain it is a common plant found on frequently burned sandhills (Entisols), and in pine flatwoods (Spodosols) and upland pine communities (Ultisols), as well as floodplain forest (Alphisols). [1] [2] It thrives in frequently burned pine communities. [3] It occurs in both native communities and areas with very disturbed soil. It occurs in a fairly wide range of well-drained soils, from deep sand to loams. Its light tolerance is fairly broad, from full light to shaded areas on the margins of clearings. [4] In addition to the coastal plain it is common throughout the Piedmont region and infrequent in the mountains. [1]

Acalypha gracilens has been found to be an increaser in its short-term response to single mechanical soil disturbances as well as in its long-term response following cessation of repeated soil disturbance. [5] Its tolerance for light and shade is broad as it grows in open fully lit spaces to shaded field edges. [4] Additionally, it serves as indicator species for the Clayhill Longleaf Woodlands community type as described in Carr et al. (2010). [6]

Associated species include Liatris gracilis, L. tenuifolia, Polygonella gracilis, Didodia teres, Chrysopis lanuginosa, Rubus cuneifolis, Hypericum gentianoides, Trichostema dichotomum, Eupatorium compositifolium , and others. [4]

Phenology

Flowers spring to fall through most of its range. Flowers all year in southern Florida. [2]

Seed dispersal

This species is believed to disperse by explosion mechanisms or by ants. [7]

Fire ecology

Populations of Acalypha gracilens have been known to persist through repeated annual and biennial burns. [8] [9]

Animal interactions

A. gracilens seeds are eaten by various songbirds and northern bobwhite quail. In the southeastern U.S. it is highly used by white-tailed deer as a forage plant due to their higher abundance in disturbed sites. [10] This plant has been observed to be a host for the plant bug Coridromius chenopoderis (family Miridae), an invasive insect originating from Australia. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 664-665.
  2. 1 2 Hall, David W. Illustrated Plants of Florida and the Coastal Plain: based on the collections of Leland and Lucy Baltzell. 1993. A Maupin House Book. Gainesville. 159.
  3. ↑ Heuberger, K. A. and F. E. Putz (2003). Fire in the suburbs: ecological impacts of prescribed fire in small remnants of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) sandhill. Restoration Ecology 11: 72-81.
  4. 1 2 3 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Cecil R. Slaughter, R.A. Norris, R.F. Doren, and Robert K. Godfrey. States and Counties: Florida: Calhoun, Gadsden, Leon, Liberty, Wakulla, and St. Johns. Georgia: Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
  5. ↑ Dixon, C. M., K. M. Robertson, A. M. Reid and M. T. Rother. 2024. Mechanical soil disturbance in a pine savanna has multiyear effects on plant species composition. Ecosphere 15(2):e4759.
  6. ↑ Carr, S.C., K.M. Robertson, and R.K. Peet. 2010. A vegetation classification of fire-dependent pinelands of Florida. Castanea 75:153-189.
  7. ↑ Kirkman, L. Katherine. 2015. Database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center. Jones Ecological Research Center, Ichauway, Georgia.
  8. ↑ Dixon, C. M., K. M. Robertson, M. D. Ulyshen, and B. A. Sikes. 2022. Pine savanna restoration on agricultural landscapes: The path back to native savanna ecosystem services. Science of the Total Environment 818:151715.
  9. ↑ Glitzenstein, J. S., D. R. Streng, R. E. Masters, K. M. Robertson and S. M. Hermann 2012. Fire-frequency effects on vegetation in north Florida pinelands: Another look at the long-term Stoddard Fire Research Plots at Tall Timbers Research Station. Forest Ecology and Management 264: 197-209.
  10. ↑ Miller, J. H. and K. V. Miller. 2005. Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses. University of Georgia Press.
  11. ↑ Discoverlife.org
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