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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
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.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 450. Treatment author: Steven E. Clemants.
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)
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