麻叶铁苋菜 ma ye tie xian cai

Acalypha boehmerioides Miquel; A. fallax Müller Argoviensis; A. wightiana Müller Argoviensis; Urtica pilosa Loureiro (1790), not Acalypha pilosa Cavanilles (1800).

Annual herbs, ca. 0.5 m tall, monoecious. Young branchlets yellow-brown pubescent and sparsely hirsute. Stipules lanceolate, ca. 4 mm; petiole 2-5.5 cm, pilose; leaf blade rhombic-ovate or oblong-ovate, 4-8 × 2-4 cm, membranous, both surfaces pilose, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin crenate, apex acuminate; basal veins 5. Inflorescences axillary, 1-3 together, 1-2.5 cm, bisexual, pubescent; peduncle short; female bracts 3-9, 1-flowered, fan-shaped, 2.5-4 × 5-6 mm, pubescent, margin denticulate, sparsely glandular-hairy, veins parallel; distal male portion short, slender; bracts lanceolate, ca. 0.5 mm; allomorphic female flowers 1-3, at apex or middle. Male flowers 5-7 per bract; pedicel ca. 1 mm; sepals 4, ca. 0.4 mm; stamens 8. Female flowers: sepals 3, triangular, ca. 0.5 mm; ovary pilose; styles 3, ca. 2 mm, 5-laciniate. Capsule 3-locular, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., pilose. Seeds ovoid, ca. 1.8 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Mar-Oct.

Grasslands, roadsides, maritime areas; near sea level to 100 m. Guangdong (Nansha Qundao, Xisha Qundao) [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Australia, Pacific islands].