Family: Amaranthaceae |
C.C. Townsend (1993) Amaranthaceae. Flora of Somalia 1: 140-167 Plants annual or perennial, prostrate or erect to scrambling or floating. Leaves entire, opposite. Inflorescences axillary, of sessile or pedunculate heads or short spikes, solitary or clustered, bracteates. Flowers solitary in the axils of the bracts; tepals 5, free, similar or dissimilar; stamens 2-5, occasionally some without anthers, filaments united in their lower portion into a cup or tube, usually alternating with large, dentate to lacinate or very small pseudostamindodes, these sometimes absent; styles short, stigmas capitate; ovaries with 1 ovule each. Fruits thin-walled or somewhat corky. Alternanthera includes about 110 species. It is best represented in the New World tropics. One species, Alternanthera pungens is known from both Somaliland and Somalia. Plants annual or perennial herbs, prostrate or erect to floating or scrambling. Leaves opposite, entire. Inflorescences sessile or pedunculate, bracteate, heads or short spikes, axillary, solitary or clustered. Flowers bisexual, solitary in the axil of a bract, bibracteolate, bracts persistent but the perianths falling with the fruits; bracteoles persistent or not; tepals 5, free, equal or unequal, glabrous or furnished with smooth or denticulate hairs; stamens 2-5, some occasionally without anthers; filaments distinctly united at the base into a cup or tube, usually alternating with large and dentate or laciniate to very small pseudostaminodes, these rarely absent; ovaries with a single pendulous ovule; styles short; stigmas capitate. Fruits indehiscent utricles, thin-walled or sometimes corky; seeds ± lenticular. Alternanthera has about 150 species, most of which are native to the tropics and subtropics of the New World but several species have spread to become pantropical weeds. Modified from the published treatment for greater consistency with other descriptions in OpenHerbarium. Plants of the World Online (POWO): Alternanthera. The distribution map shows the countries where the taxon is considered native or introduced but is now growing in the wild. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): Alternanthera. Records may be of cultivated specimens. |