Family:
Amaranthaceae Juss.

Alternanthera Forssk.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropics & Subtropics.

[FTEA]

Amaranthaceae, C.C. Townsend. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1985

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herbs, prostrate or erect to floating or scrambling, with entire opposite leaves
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences of sessile or pedunculate heads or short spikes, axillary, solitary or clustered, bracteate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers hermaphrodite, solitary in the axil of a bract, bibracteolate, bracts persistent, the perianth falling with the fruit, bracteoles persistent or not
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Perianth
Perianth-segments 5, free, equal or unequal, glabrous or furnished with smooth or denticulate hairs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 2–5, some occasionally without anthers; filaments distinctly monadelphous at the base into a cup or tube, alternating with large and dentate or laciniate to very small pseudostaminodes (rarely these obsolete); anthers unilocular
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil
Ovary with a single pendulous ovule; style short; stigma capitate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit an indehiscent capsule, thin-walled or sometimes corky
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds ± lenticular.

[FSOM]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial, prostrate or erect to scrambling or floating, with entire, opposite leaves
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence axillary, of sessile or pedunculate heads or short spikes, solitary or clustered, bracteate, flowers solitary in the axils of the bracts
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Tepal
Tepals 5, free, similar or dissimilar in form
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 2–5, some occasionally without anthers, filaments monadelphous below into a cup or tube, alternating with large and dentate or laciniate to very small subulate pseudostaminodes, or rarely these absent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style short, stigma capitate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary 1-ovulate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit thin-walled or sometimes ± corky.
Distribution
A large genus of perhaps c. 120 species, particularly well represented in the New World tropics.

[FZ]

Amaranthaceae, C. C. Townsend. Flora Zambesiaca 9:1. 1988

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herbs, prostrate or erect to floating or scrambling, with entire, opposite leaves.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences of sessile or pedunculate heads or short spikes, axillary, solitary or clustered, bracteate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers hermaphrodite, solitary in the axil of each bract, bibracteolate, bracts persistent, the perianth falling with the fruit, bracteoles persistent or not.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Perianth
Perianth segments 5, free, equal or unequal, glabrous or furnished with smooth or denticulate hairs.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium
Stamens 2–5, some occasionally without anthers, the filaments distinctly monadelphous at the base into a cup or tube, alternating with large and dentate or laciniate to very small pseudostaminodes (rarely these obsolete), anthers unilocular.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style short, stigma capitate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary with a single pendulous ovule.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit an indehiscent capsule, thin-walled or sometimes corky, seeds more or less lenticular.

Native to:

Andaman Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Aruba, Assam, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Borneo, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Cabinda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cayman Is., Chile Central, Chile North, China South-Central, China Southeast, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Florida, French Guiana, Gabon, Galápagos, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jawa, Laccadive Is., Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Malaya, Mali, Maluku, Mauritania, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Guinea, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norfolk Is., Northern Territory, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Is., South Australia, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Taiwan, Tasmania, Thailand, Togo, Transcaucasus, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Uruguay, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Victoria, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Windward Is., Yemen, Zaïre

Introduced into:

Alabama, Aldabra, Algeria, Arizona, Arkansas, Ascension, Azores, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina, Burundi, California, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, China North-Central, Christmas I., Comoros, Cook Is., Delaware, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Free State, Georgia, Gilbert Is., Gulf States, Hainan, Hawaii, Illinois, Italy, Japan, Kentucky, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Louisiana, Madeira, Malawi, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Maryland, Mauritius, Mississippi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nicobar Is., Niger, North Carolina, Northern Provinces, Oklahoma, Oman, Palestine, Pennsylvania, Pitcairn Is., Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Samoa, Seychelles, Sicilia, Society Is., Somalia, South Carolina, South China Sea, Spain, Sri Lanka, St.Helena, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tennessee, Texas, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Virginia, Wallis-Futuna Is., Zambia, Zimbabwe

Alternanthera Forssk. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
Harley, R.M. [19057/A], Brazil K001207400 Yes
Eiten, G. [10386], Brazil K001207401 Yes
Harley, R.M. [22198], Brazil K001207399 Yes

First published in Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 28 (1775)

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: 72.

Flora Zambesiaca

  • Fl. Aegypt-Arab.: 28 (1775).

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, Vol 1, (1993) Author: by C. C. Townsend [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 28 (1775)

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    Flora of Somalia
    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

    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. 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 2022. 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