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This genus is accepted, and its native range is New World, Tropical & Subtropical Old World.
Pilea (Urticaceae)

[FTEA]

Urticaceae, I. Friis University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1989

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herbs, monoecious or rarely dioecious by abortion, sometimes with somewhat lignified basal parts or suffrutescent, mostly with juicy, translucent and turgescent stems, which may occasionally have scattered glandular cells in epidermis
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite, petiolate, the two of a pair sometimes of unequal size; stipules intrapetiolar, fused completely to the apex, caducous or persistent; lamina entire, serrate or dentate, triplinerved; cystoliths linear, rarely punctiform
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Male inflorescences usually develop before or below the ♀ Inflorescences axillary or apparently terminal, unisexual or bisexual, pedunculate or sessile, bracted at least when young, in dichotomous cymes or in dense capitular clusters, either single or in branched paniculate inflorescences
sex Male
Male flowers usually 4-merous, rarely (2–)3-merous, often with tepals fused at base, mostly appendiculate (with a small, horn-like appendage at apex or subapical); rudimentary pistillode poorly developed or completely absent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Female flowers usually 3-merous, of which the tepals ± fused at base, the middle perianth-segment is usually the largest and ± appendiculate at apex, the lateral ones much smaller; a scale, representing a staminode, present inside each perianth-segment, hyaline, at first inflexed, reflexed at maturity and forcibly ejecting the achene; ovary erect, with apical sessile penicillate stigma Male flowers usually 4-merous, rarely (2–)3-merous, often with tepals fused at base, mostly appendiculate (with a small, horn-like appendage at apex or subapical); rudimentary pistillode poorly developed or completely absent
sex Female
Female flowers usually 3-merous, of which the tepals ± fused at base, the middle perianth-segment is usually the largest and ± appendiculate at apex, the lateral ones much smaller; a scale, representing a staminode, present inside each perianth-segment, hyaline, at first inflexed, reflexed at maturity and forcibly ejecting the achene; ovary erect, with apical sessile penicillate stigma
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achene compressed, ovate or elliptic; endosperm scarce
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Embryo with large cotyledons.

[FZ]

Urticaceae, I. Friis. Flora Zambesiaca 9:6. 1991

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herbs, monoecious or dioecious by abortion.
Morphology Stem
Stems juicy, translucent and turgescent; stinging hairs absent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite, petiolate or subsessile, each of a pair unequal in size, triplinerved, usually with serrate margins.
Morphology Leaves Stipules
Stipules intrapetiolar, almost completely fused.
Morphology General Cystoliths
Cystoliths linear.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male flowers (3)4(5)-merous, tepals corniculate with a dorsal horn-like appendage; stamens as many as the tepals; ovary rudimentary. Flowers in unisexual or bisexual cymes or panicles. Female flowers with 3 tepals, one considerably larger than the other two, usually cuculate or with a dorsal horn-like appendage. Three scale-like staminodes present, inflexed, but ultimately reflexing and thus ejecting the achene. Ovary symmetrical, erect, with a sessile, penicillate stigma.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achene ovoid, ± smooth, compressed.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Embryo with large cotyledons.

Native to:

Alabama, Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arkansas, Aruba, Assam, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Borneo, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burundi, Buryatiya, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cayman Is., Central African Repu, Central American Pac, Chile Central, Chile South, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Connecticut, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Florida, French Guiana, Gabon, Galápagos, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Hainan, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Illinois, India, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kansas, Kentucky, Kenya, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kuril Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Madagascar, Maine, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Manchuria, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Brunswick, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Provinces, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oman, Ontario, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Peru, Philippines, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Puerto Rico, Québec, Rhode I., Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Sierra Leone, Society Is., Socotra, South Carolina, South Dakota, Southwest Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tennessee, Texas, Thailand, Tibet, Trinidad-Tobago, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Turks-Caicos Is., Uganda, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Vermont, Vietnam, Virginia, West Himalaya, West Virginia, Windward Is., Wisconsin, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

Andaman Is., Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Caroline Is., Chagos Archipelago, Fiji, Gambia, Gilbert Is., Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Line Is., Maldives, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Nauru, New Caledonia, Nicobar Is., Niue, Norfolk Is., Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Senegal, Seychelles, Solomon Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Yugoslavia

Pilea Lindl. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Jul 5, 1985 Ule, E. [5874], Brazil K000973387
Dawkins, H.C. [770], Uganda 2677.000
Johns, R.J. [9081], New Guinea 70607.000
Burchell [3330], Brazil K000973391
Dusén, P. [6964], Brazil K000973388
de Kok, R. et al [1221], Papua New Guinea K000612489
Pires, J.M. [50540], Brazil K000973389

First published in Coll. Bot.: t. 4 (1821)

Accepted by

  • Govaerts, R., Nic Lughadha, E., Black, N., Turner, R. & Paton, A. (2021). The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00997-6 Scientific Data 8: 215.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • —F.T.A. 6, 2: 267.

Flora Zambesiaca

  • Coll. Bot. t. 4 (1821).
  • Friis in Kew Bull.44: 557–600 (1989) nom. conserv.

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Coll. Bot, t. 4 (1821)
  • Engl. in E. & P. Pf. 3(1): 108 (1888)
  • Friis in KB. 44(4) (1989), ined., nom. conserv.
  • G.F.P. 2: 185 (1967)
  • G.P. 3:384 (1880)

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
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 2021. 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 2021. 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