Flora of North America species comparison

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Mercurialis

mercurialis, Mercury
Habit Herbs, annual [perennial], dioecious or monoecious; hairs unbranched; latex absent.
Leaves

opposite, simple;

stipules present, persistent;

petiole present [absent], glands present at apex;

blade unlobed, margins serrate or crenate, laminar glands absent;

venation pinnate.
Inflorescences

usually unisexual, rarely bisexual, axillary, staminate elongate spikelike thyrses, pistillate and bisexual fascicles or cymules [short spikelike thyrses];

glands subtending each bract 0.
Pedicels

staminate rudimentary or absent, pistillate present.
Staminate flowers

sepals 3, valvate, distinct;

petals 0;

nectary absent;

stamens 8–12(–20), distinct;

pistillode absent.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 3, distinct;

petals 0;

nectary 2 glands;

pistil 2-carpellate;

styles 2, distinct or connate basally, unbranched.
Fruits

capsules, hispid [glabrous].
Seeds

ovoid;

caruncle present.
x

= 8.

Mercurialis
Distribution
from USDA
Eurasia; n Africa; Atlantic Islands (Macaronesia) [Introduced, Calif.; introduced also in s South America, s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 10 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 161. Author: Lynn J. Gillespie.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae
Subordinate taxa
M. annua
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1035. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 457. (1754)
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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(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.)

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