Gomphrena serrata L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Amaranthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect or procumbent perennial herb, to 30 cm tall, manybranched from a woody base, plant usually reddish tinged; stems obtusely 4-angular or cylindrical, collapsing when dried, pinkish at nodes, covered with ascending long hairs, especially on young parts and nodes. Leaf blades 2-4.5 x 0.8-1.2 cm, elliptic or oblanceolate, chartaceous, densely covered with appressed long hairs on both surfaces, the apex acute, mucronate, the base tapering into a clasping petiole < 1 cm long, the margins entire and ciliate. Heads globose or nearly cylindrical, subtended by a pair of reduced leaves at base, with densely strigose axis; bracts triangular, m e m branous; bracteoles 5-7 mm long, lanceolate, involute, white, covering the flower. Pedicels with woolly hairs at base; tepals 4.5 mm long, lanceolate, greenish, with hyaline margins; staminal tube yellow; ovary white, smooth, lenticular. Fruit ca. 2 mm long, flattened to nearly globose, smooth, whitish. Seeds ca. 1 mm long, lenticular, smooth, yellowish and shiny.
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Discussion
Gomphrena decumbens Jacq., P L Hort. Schoenbr. 4: 41. 1804.
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Distribution
In open or disturbed areas. Lind Point (A2935). Native to tropical America, perhaps introduced as ornamental on St. John; becoming a weed throughout the tropics.
Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America|