Acalypha californica
Acalypha virginica
California acalypha, California copperleaf, heirba del cancer, Pringle threeseed Mercury
Virginia copperleaf, Virginia three-seed-Mercury
erect, hirsute and stipitate-glandular, becoming glabrate.
usually erect, sometimes ascending, pubescent and usually hirsute.
persistent or drought-deciduous;
petiole 0.5–2.5 cm;
blade ovate to cordate, 1–5 × 0.5–4 cm, base truncate to rounded or cordate, margins serrate-crenate, apex acute or obtuse.
petiole 0.3–7 cm;
blade narrowly rhombic to broadly lanceolate, 1–8(–11) × 0.5–3(–4) cm, base acute, margins serrate, apex acute to acuminate.
unisexual and bisexual, axillary and terminal; staminate peduncle 0.3–2.5 cm, fertile portion 1–4 cm; pistillate peduncle 0.4–3 cm, fertile portion 1–3 × 0.8–1.2 cm;
bisexual similar to staminate, with 1–3 pistillate bracts near base;
allomorphic pistillate flowers absent.
bisexual, axillary;
peduncle 0.1–0.6 cm, pistillate portion 0.7–1.5 × 1.3–1.7 cm or pistillate bract solitary, staminate portion 0.3–1(–1.8) cm;
allomorphic pistillate flowers absent.
pistil 3-carpellate;
styles multifid or laciniate.
pistil 3-carpellate;
styles multifid or laciniate.
smooth, pubescent and stipitate-glandular.
smooth, pubescent.
1.5–2 mm, minutely pitted.
(1.2–)1.5–1.6(–1.8) mm, minutely pitted.
bracts loosely arranged (inflorescence axis visible between bracts), 3–6 × 5.5–11 mm, abaxial surface pubescent, sessile- and stipitate-glandular;
lobes (8–)10–18, rounded, 1/5 bract length.
bracts loosely arranged to crowded (inflorescence axis clearly to scarcely visible between bracts) or solitary, 6–13 × 9–20 mm, abaxial surface hirsute and sometimes stipitate-glandular;
lobes (9–)10–14(–16), triangular, 1/4–1/2 bract length.
= 20.
Acalypha californica
Acalypha virginica
Plants in Arizona and Sonora have been segregated as Acalypha pringlei based on having long nonglandular hairs mixed with shorter hairs on the stem (versus hairs all of one length). This trait appears throughout the range of A. californica and cannot be used to distinguish two species (G. A. Levin 1995).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Acalypha virginica overlaps geographically with A. rhomboidea but is more frequently found in grassy or prairielike habitats. See the discussion of 15. A. rhomboidea for notes on the nomenclatural and taxonomic confusion associated with these species.
Acalypha virginica and A. gracilens can sometimes be difficult to distinguish, especially when young. They can generally be distinguished by the pistillate bracts, which in A. virginica are hirsute and lack red sessile glands abaxially and in A. gracilens are sparsely pubescent and bear some red sessile glands abaxially.
Reports of Acalypha virginica from states other than those listed here are based on misidentifications.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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