Alternanthera ficoidea (L.) P. Beauv.

An introduced, naturalised, perennial herb, Native to South America

Flowering : August

Description of synonym A.tenella, in Amaranthaceae, C. C. Townsend. Flora Zambesiaca 9:1. 1988; Accessed on plantsoftheworldonline.org Habit: Erect or ascending, bushy perennial herb (commonly cultivated as an annual), c. 5–45 cm. tall, stem and branches villous when young but soon glabrescent, older parts terete, younger bluntly quadrangular. Leaves narrowly or more broadly elliptical to oblanceolate or rhomboid-ovate, acute to acuminate at the apex, attenuate into a slender, indistinctly demarcated petiole below, thinly furnished with fine, whitish hairs to subglabrous, often reddish or purple suffused and not rarely variegated. Inflorescences: Heads axillary, sessile, usually solitary, globose to ovoid, 4–6 mm. in diam.; bracts pale, deltoid-ovate, c. 2 mm. long, glabrous, lacerate-margined, aristate with the excurrent midrib; bracteoles similar but slightly shorter. Tepals white, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 3.5–4 mm. long, acute, mucronate with the excurrent midrib; outer 2 prominently 3-nerved below and darker in the nerved area, with a line of whitish, minutely barbellate hairs on each side of this area, the hairs becoming denser towards the base of the tepal; inner 2 slightly shorter, narrower and less rigid, mostly 1–2-nerved; central tepal intermediate. Stamens 5, at anthesis much exceeding the ovary and style, the alternating pseudostaminodes subequalling the filaments plus anthers, narrowly oblong, laciniate at the apex. Pistil: Ovary strongly compressed, obpyriform, 0.6 mm. long, style about the same length. Fruits: Ripe fruit and seeds not seen

Moist open places

Medicinal