Acalypha ostryifolia Riddell ex J.M. Coult.

Hornbeam Copperleaf; Rough Pod Copperleaf; Hornbeam Three Seed Mercury

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Hornbeam Copperleaf is a native herbaceous annual in the Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Hornbeam Copperleaf occurs on roadsides and along railroad tracks, near streams, in fields and gardens, and in other disturbed areas. It is an annual with a taproot. The stems are erect, pubescent, and stipitate glandular. The stems are green in color and usually branched. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, ovate in outline, with serrate margins and a cordate base. Flowers are produced in a unisexual axillary (staminate) or terminal (pistillate), spike-like thyrse. Pistillate flowers are subtended by green bracts with 9-17 linear teeth approximately 2/3’s the length of the bract. Staminate flowers have 4 green sepals and 4-8 yellowish-green stamens. Pistillate flowers are green and allomorphic (with two different shapes). Those near the base of the inflorescence have a peduncle and 3 carpels, those near the apex of the inflorescence are nearly sessile and usually have 1 carpel. The fruit is spiny, pubescent, 3-lobed capsule (those near the base) or an obovoid, glabrous achene. The seeds are ovoid in shape, reddish-brown in color, with a pitted or irregular surface.—A. Diamond.

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Native

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