Acalypha ostryifolia
Acalypha californica
hophornbeam copperleaf, pineland threeseed Mercury
California acalypha, California copperleaf, heirba del cancer, Pringle threeseed Mercury
erect, pubescent, sparsely hirsute, and stipitate-glandular.
erect, hirsute and stipitate-glandular, becoming glabrate.
petiole 1.5–6.5 cm;
blade ovate, 3–8 × 1.5–5 cm, base cordate, margins serrate, apex acute to short acuminate.
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.
unisexual, axillary (staminate) and terminal (pistillate; sometimes on short lateral branches, appearing axillary);
staminate peduncle 0.5–1.5 cm, fertile portion 0.5–3.5 cm;
pistillate peduncle 0.1–1 cm, fertile portion 3–7 × 0.7–1 cm;
allomorphic pistillate flowers common, near apices of pistillate inflorescences.
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.
of allomorphic flowers rudimentary.
pistil 3-carpellate (normal flowers), 1(–3)-carpellate (allomorphic flowers);
styles multifid or laciniate.
pistil 3-carpellate;
styles multifid or laciniate.
spiny, pubescent;
allomorphic fruits obovoid, 2 irregular flanges near apex, 2–2.2 × 1.6–1.8 mm, smooth, pubescent.
smooth, pubescent and stipitate-glandular.
1.6–2 mm, tuberculate.
1.5–2 mm, minutely pitted.
bracts (normal and allomorphic flowers) loosely arranged (inflorescence axis visible between bracts), 3–6 × 6–8 mm, abaxial surface pubescent (hairs to 0.3 mm) and sparsely stipitate-glandular;
lobes (9–)13–17, linear, 2/3 bract length, muricate.
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.
= 20.
Acalypha ostryifolia
Acalypha californica
J. Torrey [in W. H. Emory 1857–1859, vol. 2(1)] reported Acalypha ostryifolia (as A. caroliniana Elliott) from New Mexico on the basis of Bigelow s.n., collected near "the Copper Mines" in Grant County. Although no specimen has been located by the author and this is the only report of this species from New Mexico, it is to be expected in the southwestern part of the state. It was collected in the late nineteenth century in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but has not been collected there since.
Acalypha ostryifolia may not be native to the northern part of its range. Specimen collection dates suggest that the species is spreading northward, and in much of its range it is found primarily in areas with human disturbance.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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