Flora of North America species comparison

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Parietaria judaica

spreading pellitory
Habit Herbs, perennial from crown, 1-8dm.
Stems

ascending, erect, or decumbent.
Leaf

blades narrowly to broadly elliptic, lance-elliptic, or ovate, 1.3-9 × 0.8-4.5 cm, base attenuate, cuneate, or broadly rounded, apex abruptly acuminate to long-attenuate.
Flowers

involucral bracts 1.5-2.5 mm;

tepals ca. 2-3.5 mm, longer than bracts.
Achenes

dark brown, symmetric, 1-1.2 × 0.6-0.9 mm, apex acute, mucro absent or minute;

stipe centered, on cylindric base.

Parietaria judaica
Phenology Flowering all year, with peak in late winter–spring.
Habitat Cracks in sidewalks, ballast heaps, waste places, frequently about ports and coastal areas
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; FL; LA; MI; NJ; NY; PA; TX; Eurasia; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Parietaria judaica, which, in North America, is most abundant in scattered localities in California, is the only long-lived perennial species of Parietaria in the flora. Because of confusion in Europe over the correct name, plants in North America have been called P. judaica, P. officinalis of authors, not Linnaeus, P. officinalis var. erecta (Mertens & Koch) Weddell, and P. officinalis var. diffusa (Mertens & Koch) Weddell. For a clarification of the nomenclature and taxonomy of this complex, see C.C. Townsend (1968).

Parietaria judaica was first reported from Louisiana as P. diffusa Mertens & Koch, another name commonly used on herbarium specimens (J.W. Thieret 1969).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Parietaria
Sibling taxa
P. floridana, P. hespera, P. pensylvanica, P. praetermissa
Name authority Linnaeus: Fl. Palaest., 32. (1756)
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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