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cardinal feather, cardinal's feather, palmate copperleaf

Habit Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 1.5–4 dm, dioecious.
Stems

prostrate to ascending, short-pubescent and hirsute.

Leaves

petiole 0.4–1.6 cm;

blade reniform or suborbiculate, 0.5–1.5 × 0.8–2 cm, base cordate or rounded, margins deeply crenate, apex rounded.

Inflorescences

unisexual, terminal (staminate and pistillate) and axillary (pistillate);

staminate peduncle 0.5–3 cm, fertile portion 1–4(–5) cm;

pistillate peduncle 0.1–0.5 cm, fertile portion 1–2.5 × 0.8–1.2 cm;

allomorphic pistillate flowers absent.

Pistillate flowers

pistil 3-carpellate;

styles multifid or laciniate.

Capsules

smooth, pubescent and hirsute.

Seeds

1.8–2 mm, minutely pitted.

Pistillate

bracts crowded (inflorescence axis not visible between bracts), 7–10 × 12–16 mm, abaxial surface hirsute, sessile- and stipitate-glandular;

lobes (7–)8–10(–13), spatulate, 1/2 bract length.

Acalypha radians

Phenology Flowering and fruiting spring–fall.
Habitat Grassy openings, dunes, and oak or mesquite woodlands, usually on deep sand.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Acalypha radians is found in the flora area from the Edwards Plateau south to the Mexican border.

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 166.
Parent taxa 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. poiretii, A. rhomboidea, A. setosa, A. virginica, A. wilkesiana
Name authority Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 200. (1859)
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