Flora of North America species comparison

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Pilea microphylla

Pilea herniarioides

artillery plant, artillery weed, pistol plant, rockweed

Caribbean clearweed
Habit Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 0.3-2 dm. Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 0.2-1 dm.
Stems

10-40-branched, erect.

5-10-branched, repent or prostrate, sometimes mat-forming.
Leaf

blades spatulate to obovate, paired blades unequal, the larger 3-10 × 1.5-5.5 mm, the smaller 1.5-4 × 0.7-2 mm, margins entire.

blades broadly ovate to orbiculate, paired blades only slightly unequal, 1.5-6 × 1.6-5 mm, margins entire.
Inflorescences

crowded.

crowded.
Flowers

ca. 0.5 mm across.

ca. 0.2-0.3 mm across.
Achenes

uniformly light brown, slightly compressed, ovoid-cylindric, ca. 0.5(-1.1) × 0.3 mm, smooth.

uniformly light brown, slightly compressed, ovoid-cylindric, ca. 0.4 × ca. 0.3 mm, pebbled.

Pilea microphylla

Pilea herniarioides
Phenology Flowering all year. Flowering fall–spring (sporadically throughout summer).
Habitat Waste places, hammocks, rocky woods, cultivated plots, on masonry Hammocks, waste places
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft) 0-10 m (0-0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; GA; LA; SC; HI; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; tropical South America; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; Central America; West Indies; South America (Colombia)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pilea microphylla has been collected once in Tennessee and once in Michigan, but it is unlikely that the species persists so far north. It is widely grown as a houseplant in the north and a border plant in the south. It is a greenhouse weed in various parts of the flora.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Pilea Urticaceae > Pilea
Sibling taxa
P. fontana, P. herniarioides, P. pumila, P. trianthemoides
P. fontana, P. microphylla, P. pumila, P. trianthemoides
Synonyms Parietaria microphylla Urtica herniarioides
Name authority (Linnaeus) Liebmann: Naturvidensk. Math. Afd., ser. 5, 2: 296. (1851) (Swartz) Lindley: Coll. Bot., index (see also plate 4 and text on facing page). (1821)
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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