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spreading pellitory

Florida pellitory

Habit Herbs, perennial from crown, 1-8dm. Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 1-4 dm.
Stems

ascending, erect, or decumbent.

10-20-branched, decumbent to ascending.

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.

blades orbiculate to deltate, 0.7-2.7 × 0.5-1.7 cm, base truncate, rounded, or very broadly cuneate, apex smoothly attenuate or occasionally slightly acuminate.

Flowers

involucral bracts 1.5-2.5 mm;

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

involucral bracts 1.5-2 mm;

tepals ca. 1.5 mm, nearly equal to bracts.

Achenes

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

stipe centered, on cylindric base.

light brown, symmetric, 0.5-0.8 × 0.3-0.6 mm or less, apex obtuse, mucro ±apical;

stipe centered, short-cylindric, abruptly flared basally.

Parietaria judaica

Parietaria floridana

Phenology Flowering all year, with peak in late winter–spring. Flowering winter–spring.
Habitat Cracks in sidewalks, ballast heaps, waste places, frequently about ports and coastal areas Weedy places, around masonry, woodland and shrub borders, shell mounds, sandy beaches, roadsides, Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-30 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; FL; LA; MI; NJ; NY; PA; TX; Eurasia; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
DE; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; South America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

Parietaria praetermissa has been misidentified as P. floridana by some authors.

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

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Parietaria Urticaceae > Parietaria
Sibling taxa
P. floridana, P. hespera, P. pensylvanica, P. praetermissa
P. hespera, P. judaica, P. pensylvanica, P. praetermissa
Synonyms P. nummularia
Name authority Linnaeus: Fl. Palaest., 32. (1756) Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 208. (1818)
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