Eclipta

Authority

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

Family

Asteraceae

Scientific Name

Eclipta

Description

Genus Description - Annual or perennial herbs, often prostrate or procumbent; stems usually much-branched, rough pubescent. Leaves simple, opposite, subsessile, entire to dentate. Inflorescence terminal and axillary, solitary or of a few short-pedunculate heads. Heads small, radiate; involucre of several foliaceous involucral bracts cupping the head until fruit abscission and then spreading to expose the receptacle; receptacle convex or flat, paleate, the palea filiform. Ray flowers many, pistillate; corollas white, early deciduous. Disk flowers many, bisexual; corollas usually yellow; anthers usually black. Achenes obconic, 4-angled, somewhat flattened, truncate at the apex, tuberculate; pappus absent or of a few short teeth.

Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 2 or 3 species native to the N e w World, with the following species semicosmopolitan, more common in warmer climates.