Pilea microphylla (L.) Liebm.
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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
Urticaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect or spreading, monoecious herb, 15-40 cm tall, manyor few-branched from base; stems fleshy, usually reddish-tinged when fresh, dark on drying and showing numerous cystoliths. Leaf blades 2-9 x 2-5 mm , obovate, ovate, or oblanceolate, fleshy, glabrous, lower surface with conspicuous midvein, upper surface with numerous transverse linear cystoliths, the apex rounded or obtuse, the base cuneate, obtuse or attenuate, sometimes unequal, the margins entire, revolute; petioles slender, 0.2-2 mm long; stipules inconspicuous. Flowers greenish or whitish, reddishtinged. Staminate flowers solitary; perianth ca. 1 mm long. Pistillate flowers in short axillary cymes; perianth ca. 0.5 mm long. Achene ca. 0.5 mm long, yellowish brown, smooth, ellipsoid.
Distribution and Ecology - A common herb of moist, shaded, open habitats. East End (A1837), Susannaberg (A2132), Waterlemon Bay (A2524). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; throughout tropical and subtropical America.
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Discussion
Common name: artillery plant.