Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Petiveria alliacea

anamú, Guinea-hen-weed
Stems

erect, 3–20 dm, pubescent to glabrate.
Leaves

stipules 2 mm;

petiole 0.4–2 cm;

blade elliptic to oblong or obovate, to 20 × 7 cm, base acute to cuneate, apex acuminate or acute to obtuse or rounded.
Inflorescences

often drooping distally, 0.8–4 dm;

peduncle 1–4 cm;

pedicel 0.5–2 mm.
Flowers

slightly imbricate to rather remote;

sepals white or greenish to pinkish, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 3.5–6 mm;

ovary tomentose.
Achenes

striate, subtended by persistent bracts and perianth, ± appressed to rachis, 8–12 mm.
2n

= 36, 72.

Petiveria alliacea
Phenology Flowering year-round southward, spring–fall northward.
Habitat Orchards, woods, hammocks, thickets, middens, clearings
Elevation 0-40 m [0-130 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
FL; TX; Mexico; warm regions of the New World
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

J. W. Nowicke (1968) called plants with “4-hooked” fruits var. alliacea, those with “3- or 6-hooked” fruits, var. tetrandra (Gomez) Nowicke. This distinction fails in the flora area.

The leaves of Petiveria alliacea have an alliaceous odor when crushed. The plant taints the milk and meat of animals that graze on it and may also induce abortion. In some areas of tropical America, it serves as a vampire repellent of unrecorded efficacy.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Phytolaccaceae > Petiveria
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 342. (1753)
Source FNA vol. 4. Treatment authors: Mark A. Nienaber, John W. Thieret.
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(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 Boraginaceae and Polemoniaceae.)

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers