Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Acalypha poiretii

Acalypha monococca

Poiret's copperleaf

oneseed Mercury, slender threeseed Mercury
Habit Herbs, annual, 1–4 dm, monoecious. Herbs, annual, 1–4 dm, monoecious.
Stems

erect, pubescent and sparsely hirsute.

erect, pubescent.
Leaves

petiole 1–4.5 cm;

blade ovate to elliptic, 2–5 × 1–3.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins serrate-crenate, apex acute.

petiole 0.2–1(–1.2) cm;

blade linear-lanceolate to linear, 1.7–6(–7) × 0.3–1.2 cm, base cuneate, margins usually subentire, sometimes shallowly serrate, apex acute.
Inflorescences

bisexual, axillary;

peduncle 0.1–0.5 cm, pistillate portion 2–4 × 0.8–1.2 cm (shorter on proximal inflorescences), staminate portion 0.3–1 cm;

allomorphic pistillate flowers common, terminal on staminate portion of inflorescences.

bisexual, axillary;

peduncle 0.1–0.6 cm, pistillate portion 0.6–1.2 × 0.8–1.5 cm or pistillate bract solitary, staminate portion 0.1–2.5 cm;

allomorphic pistillate flowers absent.
Pedicels

of allomorphic flowers rudimentary.

Pistillate flowers

pistil 3-carpellate (normal flowers), 1-carpellate (allomorphic flowers);

styles unbranched.

pistil 1-carpellate;

styles multifid or laciniate.
Capsules

smooth, pubescent;

allomorphic fruits obovoid, 1.2–1.5 × 1–1.2 mm, muricate, pubescent.

smooth, pubescent.
Seeds

1.2–1.5 mm, minutely pitted.

1.6–2.4 mm, shallowly pitted.
Pistillate

bracts (normal flowers) crowded (inflorescence axis not visible between bracts), 4–5 × 6–8 mm, abaxial surface pubescent and sparsely stipitate-glandular;

lobes 7–9, triangular, 1/5 bract length; of allomorphic flowers absent.

bracts loosely arranged to crowded (inflorescence axis clearly to scarcely visible between bracts) or solitary, 8–13 × 11–16 mm, abaxial surface sparsely to densely pubescent, red sessile-glandular, and rarely stipitate-glandular;

lobes (7–)9–13(–17), deltate, 1/10–1/4 bract length.

Acalypha poiretii

Acalypha monococca
Phenology Flowering and fruiting late summer–fall. Flowering and fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Disturbed areas. Pine and oak woods, prairies, barrens, on sandy or shallow rocky soils.
Elevation 10–100 m. (0–300 ft.) 80–600 m. (300–2000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; c Mexico; e Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) [Introduced West Indies, South America, Africa]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; IL; KS; KY; LA; MO; OK; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Acalypha poiretii is known in the flora area from the lower Rio Grande valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr counties). It was collected in the late nineteenth century on ballast dumps in Alabama, Florida, and New Jersey, but has not been reported again from any of these states.

Some authors (for example, R. Govaerts et al. 2000) have treated Acalypha poiretii and A. alnifolia Poiret as synonyms, in which case the latter would be the correct name for this species; however, the types of the two names clearly belong to different species.

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

Even when fruits have dehisced, Acalypha monococca is easily distinguished from A. gracilens and all other species in the genus by its curved, needlelike columellae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 169. FNA vol. 12, p. 171.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Acalypha Euphorbiaceae > Acalypha
Sibling taxa
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. radians, A. rhomboidea, A. setosa, A. virginica, A. wilkesiana
A. alopecuroidea, A. arvensis, A. australis, A. californica, A. chamaedrifolia, A. deamii, A. gracilens, A. monostachya, A. neomexicana, A. ostryifolia, A. phleoides, A. poiretii, A. radians, A. rhomboidea, A. setosa, A. virginica, A. wilkesiana
Synonyms A. macrostachyos A. gracilens var. monococca, A. gracilens subsp. monococca
Name authority Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 3: 879. (1826) — (as poireti) (Engelmann ex A. Gray) Lillian W. Miller & Gandhi: Sida 13: 123. (1988)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers