Common three-seeded mercury | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malpighiales |
Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
Subtribe: | Acalyphinae |
Genus: | Acalypha |
Species: | A. rhomboidea |
Binomial name | |
Acalypha rhomboidea | |
A. rhomboidea distribution | |
Synonyms | |
Acalypha rhomboidea (common three-seeded mercury, [2] rhombic three-seeded-mercury, [3] rhomboid mercury, copperleaf, [4] rhombic copper-leaf, three-seeded-mercury, [5] ricinelle rhomboide, [6] diamond threeseed mercury; syn. Acalypha urticifolia Raf., Acalypha virginica L. forma intermedia Millsp., Acalypha virginica L. var. rhombifolia Riddell, [7] Acalypha virginica L. var. rhomboidea (Raf.) Cooperr. [2] ) is a plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae.
The species name rhomboidea means "diamond-shaped", and describes the leaves.
Common three-seeded mercury is an annual [2] herbaceous plant. It grows from a taproot, [8] reaching 15–60 cm (1⁄2–2 ft) tall, and is usually without branches. The central stem can be either covered with fine white hairs or hairless. [4] The lanceolate to lanceolate-rhombic acute leaves are alternate with slightly hairy petioles about 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in) long, [8] bluntly serrated margins, and pinnate venation. [4] Leaves are deep green and somewhat shiny above, light green and mostly hairless below and can be up to 7 cm (2+3⁄4 in) long and 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in) wide. [8] There is a tendency for the leaves to cluster near the top of the stem or stems. A conspicuous, slightly ciliate bract with 5–9 lobes is located where the leaf petiole meets the stem. This bract wraps around the inflorescence, which consists of a green cyathium. The cyathium contains minute staminate and pistillate flowers lacking petals. [4] Male flowers terminate the peduncle with capitate clusters. The flowers consists of four tiny golden green upwardly bent sepals, acute to blunt in shape, and many stamens. Female flowers consist of minute green sepals, a hairy tri-locular ovary, and three fringed styles. One seed per locule is produced. [8] The mature pods are tan colored, 1.6–1.8 mm (1⁄16–5⁄64 in) long, and deeply lobed. [9] There is no floral scent associated with the flowers. [4]
This plant is somewhat unusual in that it has clear sap as opposed to the typically milky sap of other members of Euphorbiaceae. [8]
Acalypha rhomboidea is quite similar to Acalypha virginica . The two may be distinguished by the number of lobes on the bracts; the latter has 9–15 lobes whereas the former has only 5–9. [4] Acalypha rhomboidea also resembles young redroot pigweed ( Amaranthus retroflexus L.), but may be distinguished from the latter by the flower clusters, bracts, and occasionally bronze-green leaves of the former. [9]
Acalypha rhomboidea is native to Eastern Canada and the Northeastern, Southeastern, and Central United States. [3]
This plant often grows in fertile loam, but it will tolerate gravelly or clay soil as well. It prefers disturbed areas. Three-seeded mercury can be found growing in moist to mesic black soil prairie, openings or lightly shaded areas of upland and floodplain forest, thickets, seeps, riverbanks and lake shores, limestone glades and bluffs, fields, fence rows, roadside and railroad right-of-ways, vacant lots, and waste areas. [4]
The blooming period for this plant is roughly mid-summer until fall frost, and the flowering period lasts for one or more months. [4]
The seeds are an attractive food source for birds such as the mourning dove and greater prairie chicken. Deer are known to browse Acalypha spp. [4]
In crop fields where group 2 herbicides have been repeatedly used, this plant can become a serious and damaging weed. [6]
Mercurialis perennis, commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland. A member of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), it is a herbaceous, downy perennial with erect stems bearing simple, serrate leaves. The dioecious inflorescences are green, bearing inconspicuous flowers from February to April. It characteristically forms dense, extensive carpets on the floor of woodlands and beneath hedgerows.
Acalypha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole genus of the subtribe Acalyphinae. It is one of the largest euphorb genera, with approximately 450 to 462 species. The genus name Acalypha is from the Ancient Greek ἀκαλύφη (akalúphē) ("nettle"), an alternative form of ἀκαλήφη (akalḗphē), and was inspired by the nettle-like leaves. General common names include copperleaf and three-seeded mercury. Native North American species are generally inconspicuous most of the year until the fall when their stems and foliage turn a distinctive coppery-red.
Amaranthus wrightii is a species of flowering plant. It goes by the common name of Wright's amaranth. It occurs from western Texas into southern Arizona and as far north as Colorado at elevations between 500–2,000 m (1,600–6,600 ft).
Sicyos angulatus, the oneseed bur cucumber or star-cucumber is an annual vine in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to eastern North America. The plant forms mats or climbs using tendrils. The leaves are palmately veined and lobed, the flowers are green to yellowish green, and the fruits form clusters of very small pepos.
Plectocomiopsis is a dioecious genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in Indochina, Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra. Hapaxanthic and armed with spines, they are a climbing rattan, closely related to the Myrialepis palms. The name is Greek for "similar to Plectocomia", another close relative.
Cypripedium parviflorum, commonly known as yellow lady's slipper or moccasin flower, is a lady's slipper orchid native to North America. It is widespread, ranging from Alaska south to Arizona and Georgia. It grows in fens, wetlands, shorelines, and damp woodlands.
Paeonia ludlowii, is a deciduous shrub of medium height, belonging to the tree peony section Moutan of the genus Paeonia, and endemic to southeast Tibet. In Tibet it is known as ≠'lumaidao' meaning "God's flower". The vernacular name in Chinese is 大花黄牡丹 meaning "big yellow-flowered peony". In English it is sometimes called Tibetan tree peony or Ludlow's tree peony. It has pure yellow, slightly nodding, bowl-shaped flowers, and large, twice compounded, light green leaves.
Acalypha indica is an herbaceous annual that has catkin-like inflorescences with cup-shaped involucres surrounding the minute flowers. It is mainly known for its root being attractive to domestic cats, and for its various medicinal uses. It occurs throughout the Tropics.
Acalypha australis, commonly known as Asian copperleaf, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae native to eastern Asia.
Encephalartos hildebrandtii is a species of cycad in the Zamiaceae family. It is native to Kenya and Tanzania at elevations of 0 to 600 meters.
Ipomoea oenotherae is a species of plant of the morning glory genus, Ipomoea, in the family Convolvulaceae. It derives its name from the resemblance it bears to plants in the genus Oenothera. Ipomoea oenotherae is a succulent and a cryptophyte.
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.
Monarda bradburiana, the eastern beebalm or Bradbury's beebalm, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae, that is native to much of the southeastern United States.
Dracaena braunii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. It was named after the German collector Braun, Johannes M. (1859-1893). Most plants named Dracaena braunii in cultivation are Dracaena sanderiana, a plant with flowers five times longer than those of D. braunii, while the leaf base is not congested as in D. braunii.
Symphyotrichum ontarionis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to eastern North America. Commonly known as Ontario aster and bottomland aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach heights of 120 centimeters. Each flower head has many tiny florets put together into what appear as one.
Symphyotrichum racemosum is a species of flowering plant native to parts of the United States and introduced in Canada. It is known as smooth white oldfield aster and small white aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a late-summer and fall blooming flower.
Larsenianthus careyanus is a species of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). It occurs in Bangladesh as well as northeast India. It is the type species of the genus Larsenianthus, which was newly established in 2010.
Larsenianthus arunachalensis is a species of the genus Larsenianthus in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).. It was first described in 2010 and is native to northeastern India.
Plectranthus purpuratus or cliff spurflower is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, as well as eSwatini. The name is frequently misapplied to Plectranthus ciliatus, presumably because both have purple-backed leaves.
Jatropha moranii is a very rare subshrub in the genus Jatropha known commonly as Moran's lomboy. This species in the family Euphorbiaceae is endemic to a small area of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur. It is characterized by a succulent stem and branches, along with a distinct woody caudex, and attractive white flowers.