Alternanthera nesiotes

• Overview
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Endangered

Description

Family Amaranthaceae

Herbs, clambering subshrubs , shrubs , or lianas. Leaves alternate or opposite, entire, exstipulate . Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual , or sterile and reduced, subtended by 1 membranous bract and 2 bracteoles, solitary or aggregated in cymes. Inflorescences elongated or condensed spikes (heads ), racemes , or thyrsoid structures of varying complexity. Bracteoles membranous or scarious . Tepals 3-5, membranous, scarious or subleathery, 1-, 3-, 5-, or 7(-23) -veined. Stamens as many as tepals and opposite these, rarely fewer than tepals; filaments free , united into a cup at base or ± entirely into a tube , filament lobes present or absent, pseudostaminodes present or absent; anthers (1- or) 2-loculed, dorsifixed , introrsely dehiscent . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; ovules 1 to many; style persistent , short and indistinct or long and slender; stigma capitate, penicillate , 2-lobed or forming 2 filiform branches. Fruit a dry utricle or a fleshy capsule, indehiscent, irregularly bursting, or circumscissile. Seeds lenticular , reniform , subglobose, or shortly cylindric , smooth or verruculose .

About 70 genera and 900 species: worldwide; 15 genera (one introduced ) and 44 species (three endemic, 14 introduced) in China.

Morphology of the androecium, perianth (tepals), and the inflorescence has traditionally been used to circumscribe genera and tribes . Pseudostaminodia are interstaminal appendages with variously shaped apices. Filament appendages are the lateral appendages of filaments (one on each side) . The basic structure of the inflorescence is the cyme (branchlets arising from the bracteole axils, the bracteoles serving as bracts for upper flowers), which can be reduced to one flower with two bracteoles and a bract. Units of dispersal vary considerably (capsules opening with lower part persistent, flower and bracteoles falling together, or cymose partial inflorescences breaking off above bract) and can be characteristic for genera. Several genera possess long trichomes serving dispersal at the base of the tepals.[1]

Genus Alternanthera

Herbs or subshrubs , annual or perennial . Stems prostrate , decumbent , ascending , erect , or floating, indumentum of simple trichomes . Leaves opposite, sessile or petiolate ; blade lanceolate to ovate , ovate-rhombic, or obovate-rhombic, margins entire. Inflorescences axillary or terminal , sessile or pedunculate , several-flowered cylindric spikes or globose heads , without immediately subtending leaves; bracts and bracteoles scarious . Flowers bisexual ; tepals 5, distinct ; stamens 3-5; filaments connate basally into tube or short cup ; pseudostaminodes 5, alternating with stamens; ovule 1; style 1, ca. 0.2 mm; stigma capitate or rarely 2-lobed. Utricles compressed , ovoid or obovoid , indehiscence. Seeds 1, reddish brown, lenticular or ovoid-oblong.

Species ca. 80: primarily American tropics and subtropics, some in Asia, Africa, and Australia.[2]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : I.M.Johnst. Publication : Contr. Gray Herb. n. s. 68: 83 1923

Similar Species

Members of the genus Alternanthera

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 278 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. acaulis · A. achyrantha · A. achyrantha leiantha · A. achyrantha var. leiantha · A. achyrantha var. parvifolia · A. achyranthoides · A. adscendens · A. albida · A. albo-squarrosa · A. albo-tomentosa · A. albotomentosa · A. albotomentosa var. ecuadoriensis · A. altacruzensis · A. amabilis · A. amoena · A. angustifolia · A. angustifolia var. lanata · A. angustifolia var. macrocephala · A. angustifolia var. typica · A. aphylla · A. aquatica · A. arequipensis · A. areschougii · A. argentata · A. aristata · A. arnoldiana · A. articulata · A. articulata var. minuta · A. asterophora · A. asterotricha · A. aurata · A. australis · A. axillaris · A. bahiensis · A. bangii · A. baueri · A. bettzichiana (Garden Alternanthera) · A. bettzickiana (Baptist Plant) · A. bettzickiana 'Brilliantissima' (Joyweed) · A. boliviana · A. brachiata · A. brasiliana (Brazil Chaff-Flower) · A. brasiliana 'Ruby' · A. brasiliana var. straminea · A. brasiliana var. villosa · A. brasiliensis · A. 'Brazilian Red Hots' · A. calcicola · A. cana · A. canescens · A. caracasana (Mat Chaff-Flower) · A. cardinalis · A. caribaea · A. celosioides · A. chacoensis · A. ciliata · A. cinerella · A. collina · A. congesta · A. cordobensis · A. coriacea · A. corymbiformis · A. costaricensis · A. crassifolia · A. crucis (West Indian Joyweed) · A. culebrasensis · A. cyclophylla · A. decipiens · A. dendrotricha · A. dentata · A. dentata 'Gail's Choice' · A. dentata 'Purple Knight' (Calico Plant) · A. dentata 'Red Marble' (Calico Plant) · A. dentata 'Rubiginosa' (Calico Plant) · A. denticulata · A. denticulata var. micrantha · A. denticulata var. uliginosa · A. dolichocephala · A. dominii · A. dubia · A. echinata · A. echinocephala (Seaurchin Joyweed) · A. elongata · A. erecta · A. fasciculata · A. fastigiata · A. felipponei · A. ficoidea · A. ficoidea 'Aurea' (Chartreuse Josephs Coat) · A. ficoidea 'Bettzickiana' · A. ficoidea 'Chartreuse' (Chartreuse Josephs Coat) · A. ficoidea 'Creme De Menthe' · A. ficoidea 'Gold Threads' · A. ficoidea 'Grenadine' (Josephs Coat) · A. ficoidea 'New Burgundy' (Baptist Plant) · A. ficoidea 'Partytime' · A. ficoidea 'Purple Threadleaf' (Baptist Plant) · A. ficoidea 'Red Carpet' · A. ficoidea 'Red Threads' · A. ficoidea 'Rosea Nana' (Dwarf Rose Josephs Coat)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Tye, A. 1999. Revision of the threat status of the endemic flora of Galapagos: a preliminary analysis. In: Galagagos Report 3. WWF, Fundacion Natura. Quito.
• Kuan Ke-chien. 1979. Amaranthaceae. In: Kung Hsien-wu & Tsien Cho-po, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 25(2): 194241.
• Mears, J. A. 1978. The nomenclature and type collections of the widespread taxa of Alternanthera (Amaranthaceae). Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 129: 1-21.

Notes

Contributors

• Tye, A. 2000. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 7149218
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:59262-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 10412-2
• IUCN ID: 39082
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1025601

Footnotes

1. Bojian Bao, Thomas Borsch & Steven E. Clemants "Amaranthaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 415. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Steven E. Clemants "Alternanthera". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 406, 435, 447. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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