- Family: Amaranthaceae Juss.
Achyranthes L.
This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & Subtropical Old World.
Descriptions
According to Flora of Tropical East Africa
[FTEA]Amaranthaceae, C.C. Townsend. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1985
- Pistil
- Ovary with a solitary pendulous ovule, the ovary wall very thin in fruit; style slender; stigma small, truncate-capitate
- Seeds
- Endosperm copious. Entire flower with bracteoles falling with the ripening of the cylindrical seed, the deflexed bracts persistent
- Habit
- Herbs with opposite, petiolate, entire leaves
- Inflorescences
- Inflorescence a ± slender spike, terminal on the stem and branches, the flowers at first congested and ± patent, finally usually laxer and deflexed; bracts deltoid or ovate, the midrib excurrent in a spine
- Flowers
- Flowers solitary in the bracts, hermaphrodite, bibracteolate
- Perianth
- Perianth-segments 4–5, 1–3(–5)-nerved, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, aristate with the excurrent midrib, indurate in fruit especially at the base
- Bracteoles
- Bracteoles spinous-aristate with the excurrent midrib, the lamina forming short and free to longer and adnate membranous wings
- Stamens
- Stamens 2–5; filaments filiform, monadelphous, alternating with quadrate to broadly quadrate-spathulate pseudostaminodes, these simple and dentate or fimbriate, or furnished with a variably developed dorsal scale; anthers bilocular
According to Flora Zambesiaca under the synonym Achiranthes
[FZ]Amaranthaceae, C. C. Townsend. Flora Zambesiaca 9:1. 1988
- Habit
- Herbs with opposite, petiolate, entire leaves.
- Inflorescences
- Inflorescence a more or less slender spike, terminal on the stem and branches, the flowers at first congested and patent, finally usually laxer and deflexed; bracts deltoid or ovate, the midrib excurrent in a spine.
- Flowers
- Flowers solitary in the bracts, hermaphrodite, bibracteolate.
- Perianth
- Perianth segments 4–5, 1–3(5) nerved, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate with the excurrent midrib, indurate in fruit especially at the base.
- Bracteoles
- Bracteoles spinous-aristate with the excurrent midrib, the lamina forming short and free to longer and adnate membranous wings.
- Androecium
- Stamens 2–5, filaments filiform, monadelphous, alternating with quadrate to broadly quadrate-spathulate pseudostaminodes, these simple and dentate or fimbriate, or commonly furnished with a variably developed dorsal scale; anthers bilocular.
- Style
- Style slender, stigma small, truncate-capitate.
- Ovary
- Ovary with a solitary pendulous ovule, the ovary wall very thin in fruit.
- Seeds
- Entire flower with bracteoles falling with the ripening of the cylindrical seed, the deflexed bracts persistent. Endosperm copious.
Images
Distribution
Native to:
Afghanistan, Aldabra, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Repu, Chad, Chagos Archipelago, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., Congo, Djibouti, East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Gilbert Is., Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hainan, Hawaii, India, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jawa, Kazan-retto, Kenya, Korea, KwaZulu-Natal, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Line Is., Madeira, Malawi, Malaya, Maldives, Mali, Maluku, Marquesas, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel I, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Ogasawara-shoto, Oman, Pakistan, Panamá, Philippines, Queensland, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Samoa, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Selvagens, Senegal, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Society Is., Socotra, Solomon Is., Somalia, South China Sea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vietnam, Wallis-Futuna Is., West Himalaya, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Introduced into:
Alabama, Aruba, Austria, Azores, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Cook Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Florida, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Illinois, Jamaica, Kentucky, Kermadec Is., Leeward Is., Louisiana, Maryland, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand North, Nicaragua, Niue, Ohio, Peru, Primorye, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, South Carolina, Southwest Caribbean, St.Helena, Suriname, Tennessee, Texas, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Vanuatu, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, West Virginia, Windward Is.
Accepted Species
- Achyranthes ancistrophora C.C.Towns.
- Achyranthes arborescens R.Br.
- Achyranthes aspera L.
- Achyranthes bidentata Blume
- Achyranthes coynei Santapau
- Achyranthes diandra Roxb.
- Achyranthes fasciculata (Suess.) C.C.Towns.
- Achyranthes mangarevica Suess.
- Achyranthes marchionica F.Br.
- Achyranthes margaretarum de Lange
- Achyranthes mutica A.Gray ex H.Mann
- Achyranthes shahii M.R.Almeida & S.M.Almeida
- Achyranthes splendens Mart. ex Moq.
- Achyranthes talbotii Hutch. & Dalziel
Synonyms
Other Data
Achyranthes L. appears in other Kew resources:
Herbarium Catalogue (2 records)
| Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. [8496], Cameroon | K000025612 | |||
| Cheek, M. [7706], Cameroon | K000086522 |
Bibliography
First published in Sp. Pl.: 204 (1753)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 529. MIM, Deurne.
Literature
Flora of West Tropical Africa
- —F.T.A. 6, 1: 62.
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 96 (1854)
- Sp. Pl.: 204 (1753)
Sources
Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Neotropikey
Milliken, W., Klitgard, B. and Baracat, A. (2009 onwards), Neotropikey - Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0