Urticaceae
Laportea

Laportea peduncularis (Wedd.) Chew

First published in Gard. Bull. Singapore 21: 201 (1965)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tanzania to S. Africa. It is an annual and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

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

Morphology General Habit
Annual or short-lived perennial, erect or ascending herbs, monoecious or dioecious by abortion.
Morphology Stem
Stems soft, ± erect, decumbent or scrambling, sometimes rooting at lower nodes, up to 1.5 m. long, unbranched or branching from the bases, glabrescent or covered with few to numerous stinging hairs, sometimes on raised protuberances.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves restricted to upper part of stem at anthesis, up to 10 x 7 cm., triangular to rhomboid or ovate; apex acuminate; base cuneate, truncate or subcordate; margin coarsely to finely serrate with 5–25 teeth per side less than 5 mm. long; lamina upper surface with short, stiff hairs or subglabrous, lower surface with stiff hairs on the nerves or subglabrous.
Morphology Leaves Petiole
Petiole 2–6(11) cm. long, glabrous to puberulous.
Morphology Leaves Stipules
Stipules up to 10 mm. long, linear-lanceolate, fused for about half their length, with a few stiff hairs.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences single and usually restricted to upper leaf axils, unisexual, paniculate, usually dichotomously branched, with many flowers in small cymose clusters or with a few flowers on each branch, with scattered stiff or stinging hairs. Female flowers in small dichasial clusters c. 6 mm. in diam.; pedicels c. 1 mm. long with a narrow dorsi-ventral wing; tepals 4, c. 1 mm. long, the dorsal and ventral ones much smaller than the lateral ones. Male inflorescences in lower axils, on peduncles 1–3 cm. long; flowers in few, dense cymose clusters c. 1 cm. in diam.; pedicels c. 1 mm. long with a narrow dorsi-ventral wing; perianth with 5 strongly corniculate tepals, 5 stamens, and a small pistillode.
sex Male
Male inflorescences in lower axils, on peduncles 1–3 cm. long; flowers in few, dense cymose clusters c. 1 cm. in diam.; pedicels c. 1 mm. long with a narrow dorsi-ventral wing; perianth with 5 strongly corniculate tepals, 5 stamens, and a small pistillode.
sex Female
Female flowers in small dichasial clusters c. 6 mm. in diam.; pedicels c. 1 mm. long with a narrow dorsi-ventral wing; tepals 4, c. 1 mm. long, the dorsal and ventral ones much smaller than the lateral ones.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achene c. 1.5 mm. long, ovoid, laterally compressed, with a ridge enclosing a rugose depression on each side, shed with the perianth.
[FZ]

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

Morphology General Habit
Annual or short-lived perennial herb, monoecious, or dioecious by abortion.
Morphology Stem
Stems soft, ± erect, decumbent or scrambling, sometimes rooting at lower nodes, up to 1.5 m. long, somewhat woody at the base, unbranched or branched from the base, pubescent to glabrescent, with few to fairly numerous stinging hairs ± 1 mm. long, sometimes raised on protuberances 0.5–1 mm. high; bark greenish to brownish.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves restricted to upper part of stem at anthesis; stipules linear-lanceolate, 4–10 mm. long, connate for about half their length, glabrous except for some stiff hairs on nerves; petiole 1–8(–11) cm. long, glabrous to puberulous, sometimes with stinging hairs (occasionally raised on short slender protuberances); lamina lanceolate to ovate, (2–)4–10 cm. long, (l–)2.5–7 cm. wide, base broadly cuneate to subcordate, margin serrate, on each side with (5(outside Flora area)–) 15–25 teeth shorter than 0.5 cm., apex acuminate, with apical tooth ± 0.8 mm. long; lateral nerves 5–8 pairs, basal pair reaching 6th–8th tooth from apex; upper surface with scattered, rather short stinging hairs, cystoliths punctiform, minute, lower surface with scattered stiff, probably stinging hairs on the nerves.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence unisexual, paniculate, single and usually restricted to the upper leaf-axils, sometimes reduced to an axis dichotomously branching once, with a few flowers on each branch, but mostly with many flowers in small cymose clusters; axes glabrescent or with a few stinging hairs; male inflorescences in lower axils, on peduncles 1–3 cm. long, overall 3.5–9 cm. long, often with 2 or more glomerules of equal size terminating the branches; female inflorescences in upper axils, usually repeatedly dichotomously branched, or with 1 branch overtopping the other, sessile or on peduncles, up to 2 cm. long, overall 3–6 cm. long.
sex Male
Male flowers in ± dense cymose clusters up to ± 1 cm. in diameter; pedicel 1–2 mm. long, with a narrow dorsiventral wing; perianth 1.5–2 mm. in diameter, (4–)5-merous; tepals with a dorsal, longitudinal crest and sometimes a few stinging hairs.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Female flowers in ± dense cymose clusters up to 0.6 cm. in diameter; pedicel ± 0.5 mm. long, with a narrow dorsiventral wing; tepals:the lateral ones ± 0.8 mm. long, the dorsal one not geniculate, about as long as the lateral ones, the ventral one shorter; ovary with linear stigma, ± 1 mm. long. Male flowers in ± dense cymose clusters up to ± 1 cm. in diameter; pedicel 1–2 mm. long, with a narrow dorsiventral wing; perianth 1.5–2 mm. in diameter, (4–)5-merous; tepals with a dorsal, longitudinal crest and sometimes a few stinging hairs.
sex Female
Female flowers in ± dense cymose clusters up to 0.6 cm. in diameter; pedicel ± 0.5 mm. long, with a narrow dorsiventral wing; tepals:the lateral ones ± 0.8 mm. long, the dorsal one not geniculate, about as long as the lateral ones, the ventral one shorter; ovary with linear stigma, ± 1 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achene ovoid, ±1.5 mm. long, laterally compressed, almost sessile, somewhat reflexed when ripe, centre of flattened sides with a warted depression and smooth circular marginal ridge, dispersed with the perianth.
Distribution
Largely as for subsp. peduncularis, but in the coastal zone ofMozambique and South Africa (coastal Natal) subsp. peduncularis is replaced by subsp. latidens Friis which has erect habit, glabrescent to glabrous stems, without stinging hairs, and leaves with cuneate leaf-base and with 5–8(–12) broad teeth on each side of lamina.
[FTEA]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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    • 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.
    • 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 Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images