Flora of North America species comparison

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Acalypha australis

Acalypha wilkesiana

Asian copperleaf

beefsteak plant, match-me-if-you-can, painted copperleaf, wilkes' acalypha
Habit Herbs, annual, 3–6 dm, monoecious. Shrubs, 20–50 dm, monoecious.
Stems

erect, densely to sparsely pilose.

erect, sparsely to densely pubescent, not glandular.
Leaves

petiole 0.5–4 cm;

blade ovate to broadly lanceolate, 2–8 × 1.5–4 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins serrate, apex acute to short-acuminate.

persistent;

petiole 1–6 cm;

blade ovate to broadly ovate or suborbiculate, 9–20 × 4–15 cm, base obtuse to rounded or subcordate, margins serrate-crenate, apex acuminate.
Inflorescences

bisexual, axillary;

peduncle 0.5–4(–6) cm, pistillate portion 1–2 × 1.5–2.5 cm or pistillate bract solitary, staminate portion 0.5–3 cm;

allomorphic pistillate flowers rare, when present replacing staminate part of inflorescence.

usually unisexual, rarely bisexual, axillary;

staminate peduncle 0.1–1.5 cm, fertile portion 10–20 cm;

pistillate peduncle 1–2 cm, fertile portion 4–15 × 0.5–0.8 cm;

bisexual similar to staminate, with 1–2 pistillate bracts near base;

allomorphic pistillate flowers absent.
Pedicels

of allomorphic flowers rudimentary.

Pistillate flowers

pistil 3-carpellate (normal flowers), 2-carpellate (allomorphic flowers);

styles multifid or laciniate.

pistil 3-carpellate;

styles multifid or laciniate.
Capsules

muricate, pubescent;

allomorphic fruits obovoid, 2 × 1.2 mm, muricate, pubescent.

unknown.
Seeds

1.5–1.8 mm, minutely pitted.

unknown.
Pistillate

bracts (normal flowers) loosely arranged (inflorescence axis visible between bracts) or solitary, 10–15(–20) × 8–12 mm, abaxial surface sparsely pubescent;

lobes 12–15, rounded, 1/20 bract length; of allomorphic flowers absent.

bracts loosely arranged (inflorescence axis visible between bracts), 2–4 × 3–5 mm, abaxial surface sparsely to moderately pubescent;

lobes 7–9, ovate to lanceolate, 1/4 bract length, except terminal lobe to 1/2 bract length.

Acalypha australis

Acalypha wilkesiana
Phenology Flowering and fruiting late summer–fall. Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Disturbed areas. Old home sites, disturbed areas.
Elevation 0–20 m. (0–100 ft.) 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NJ; NY; Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan); Pacific Islands (Philippines) [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; Pacific Islands [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, n South America, se Asia, Africa]
Discussion

Acalypha australis, native to eastern Asia, became established in metropolitan New York City in the 1980s. It was also collected once in 1900 in Oregon (Suksdorf 2892, GH), and apparently has not persisted there.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Acalypha wilkesiana is not known in the wild, but presumably originated in the southwestern Pacific Islands (Bismarck Archipelago east to Fiji). The species is commonly cultivated as an ornamental for its leaves that may be various shades of green, purple, red, orange, and yellow (sometimes variegated), and sometimes contorted into unusual shapes. Despite low seed set, it occasionally becomes naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas. Naturalized plants often lack the distinctive leaf coloration found in cultivated plants. Although sometimes treated as A. amentacea subsp. wilkesiana, DNA sequence data show that A. wilkesiana and A. amentacea are distinct species (V. G. Sagun et al. 2010).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 169. FNA vol. 12, p. 165.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Acalypha Euphorbiaceae > Acalypha
Sibling taxa
A. alopecuroidea, A. arvensis, A. californica, A. chamaedrifolia, A. deamii, A. gracilens, A. monococca, A. monostachya, A. neomexicana, A. ostryifolia, A. phleoides, A. poiretii, A. radians, A. rhomboidea, A. setosa, A. virginica, A. wilkesiana
A. alopecuroidea, A. arvensis, A. australis, A. californica, A. chamaedrifolia, A. deamii, A. gracilens, A. monococca, A. monostachya, A. neomexicana, A. ostryifolia, A. phleoides, A. poiretii, A. radians, A. rhomboidea, A. setosa, A. virginica
Synonyms A. amentacea subsp. wilkesiana
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1004. (1753) Müller Arg.: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 817. (1866)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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