Flora of North America species comparison

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Alternanthera pungens

creeping chaffweed, khaki joyweed, khakiweed
Habit Herbs, perennial, 3–8 dm.
Stems

prostrate, villous.
Leaves

sessile;

blade oval to obovate, usually as broad as long, 1.3–3 × 1.1–1.7 cm, apex rounded, pilose, glabrate.
Inflorescences

axillary, sessile;

heads stramineous, globose to ovoid, 0.6–1 × 0.6–0.7 cm;

bracts equaling tepals, apex attenuate.
Flowers

tepals dimorphic, stramineous, lanceolate, 5–7 mm, apex acuminate, spinose tipped, sparsely villous, hairs barbed;

stamens 5;

anthers 3–5, globose;

pseudostaminodes triangular, shorter than filaments, margins dentate.
Seeds

lenticular, 1.3–1.5 mm.
Utricles

included within tepals, brown, compressed, 1.8 mm, apex truncate.

Alternanthera pungens
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Waste grounds, cleared limestone areas
Elevation 0-1500 m [0-4900 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
AL; FL; LA; NY; TX; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Alternanthera pungens was long known as A. repens (Linnaeus) Link, a later homonym of A. repens J. F. Gmelin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Amaranthaceae > Alternanthera
Sibling taxa
A. brasiliana, A. caracasana, A. ficoidea, A. flavescens, A. maritima, A. paronychioides, A. philoxeroides, A. sessilis
Synonyms Achyranthes leiantha
Name authority Kunth: in A. von Humboldt et al., Nov. Gen. Sp. 2: 206. (1818)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 450. Treatment author: Steven E. Clemants.
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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