Sessile Joyweed

No specimen of Alternanthera nodiflora R. Br. has been seen from Pakistan, and the record by Hassanain quoted by Stewart (but with no reference) must therefore remain suspect.

Alternanthera sessilis is reported from Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, but I have seen no specimens from these states.

Annual or usually perennial herb; in drier situations with slender, more solid stems, erect, ± much-branched, to c. 30 cm; in wetter places ascending or commonly prostrate with stems c. 0.1-1 m long, rooting at the nodes, ± fistular, with numerous lateral branches; when floating very fistular, the stems attaining several metres in length and over 1 cm thick, with long clusters of whitish rootlets at the nodes. Stem and branches green or purplish, with a narrow line of whitish hairs down each side of the stem and tufts of white hairs in the branch and leaf axils, otherwise glabrous, striate, terete. Leaves extremely variable in shape and size, linear-lanceolate to oblong, oval, or obovate-spathulate, 1-9 (-15) x 0.2-2 (-3) cm, blunt to shortly acuminate at the apex, cuneate to attenuate at the base, glabrous or thinly pilose, especially on the lower surface of the midrib; petiole obsolete or up to c. 5 mm. Inflorescence sessile, axillary, solitary or in clusters of up to c. 5, subglobose (or somewhat elongate in fruit), c. 5 mm in diameter; bracts scarious, white, deltoid-ovate, mucronate with the excurrent pale midrib, glabrous, c. 0.75-1 mm; bracteoles similar, 1-1.5 mm, also persistent. Tepals oval-elliptic, equal, 1.5-2.5 mm, acuminate to rather blunt, white, glabrous, shortly but distinctly mucronate with the stout, excurrent midrib, the margins obscurely denticulate. Stamens 5 (2 filaments anantherous), at anthesis subequalling the ovary and style, the alternating pseudostaminodes resembling the filaments but usually somewhat shorter. Ovary strongly compressed, roundish, style extremely short. Fruit obcordate or cordate-orbicular, 2-2.5 mm long, strongly compressed with a narrow, pale, somewhat thickened margin. Seed discoid, c. 0.75-1 mm, brown, shining, faintly reticulate.

Herbs, annual or perennial, 2-6 dm. Stems procumbent, pubes-cent in lines, glabrate. Leaves sessile; blade elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate, 1.2-5 × 0.5-2.2 cm, apex obtuse to acute, glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, sessile; heads white, subglobose or ovoid, 0.5-1.1 cm; bracts keeled, ca. ¹/2 as long as tepals. Flowers: tepals white, ovate to lanceolate, 2-3.5 mm, apex acuminate, hairs not barbed; stamens 5; anthers 3-5, globose; pseudostaminodes subulate, margins laciniate. Utricles included within tepals, sides exerted in mature fruit, greenish stramineous, obcordate, 1.3-1.7 mm, apex retuse. Seeds lenticular, 0.9-1.1 mm.

Herbs perennial, 10-45 cm tall. Stem ascending or creeping, green or somewhat tinged purple, striped, hairy, across nodes with a transverse row of hairs. Petiole 1-4 mm, glabrous or pilose; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, oblong-obovate, or ovate-oblong, 1-8 × 0.2-2 cm, glabrous or pilose, base attenuate, margin entire or slightly serrate, apex acute or obtuse. Heads 1-4, axillary, sessile, at first globose, later cylindric, 3-6 mm in diam. Flowers dense; rachis densely white hairy. Bracts and bracteoles white, glabrous, apex acuminate; bracts ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm; bracteoles subulate, 1-1.5 mm. Tepals white, ovate, 2-3 mm, glabrous, with a vein, apex acuminate or acute. Stamens 3; filaments ca. 0.7 mm, connate into a cup at base; anthers oblong; pseudostaminodes subulate, shorter than stamens, margin entire, apex acuminate. Style very short; stigma shortly parted. Utricles enclosed in perianth, dark brown, obovoid, 2-2.5 mm. Seeds ovoid. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 34, 40.

W-E Nepal: Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam.

Distribution: A common species, very widepsread in the tropics and subtroprics of both Old and New Worlds in waste and cultivated ground, especially in damp or wet conditions.

introduced, Ala., Fla., Ga., La.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama); South America; Africa; Asia.

200-2000 m

Flowering summer-early fall.

Herbs

Wet disturbed areas; 0-20m.

Roadsides, gardens, swamps. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].

Gomphrena sessilis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 225. 1753

Gomphrena sessilis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 225. 1753; Alternanthera denticulata R. Brown; A. nodiflora R. Brown; Illecebrum sessile (Linnaeus) Linnaeus.

Roots: medicinal.

sessilis: without a stalk (probably referring to the inflorescences)

Perennial, sometimes annual, prostrate herb rooting at the nodes. It may occasionally be a floating or emergent aquatic. Stems greenish, pink to purplish, ribbed, up to 1 m, mostly glabrous except for tufts of white hairs in the branch and leaf axils. Young stems with a line of hairs down each side. Leaves opposite, entire, very variable in shape, linear-lanceolate to obovate-spathulate. Inflorescences sessile, axillary, often in clusters, whitish.

Frequent

Widespread in the tropics and subtropics of both the Old and New World and it is possibly native.

Achyranthes sessilis (I,.) Steud. (Norn. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 16, as synonym
1840); Standley, Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 73. 1915.
Gomphrena sessilis L-. Sp. PI. 225. 1753. Illecebrum sessile L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 300. 1762. Alternanthera triandra Lam. Encyc. 1: 95. 1783. Alternanthera denticulata R. Br. Prodr. 417. 1810. Alternanthera sessilis R. Br. Prodr. 417. 1810. Allaganthera Forskalii Mart. PI. Hort. Erlang. 69. 1814. Paronychia sessilis Desf. Tabl. Bot. ed. 2. 54. 1815. Illecebrum denticulaium Spreng. Syst. 1 : 820. 1825. Achyrantha triandra Roxb. Fl. Ind. 1: 678. 1832.
Procumbent annual or perennial; stems 2-6 dm. long, often rooting at the nodes, simple or sparsely branched, the branches slender, puberulent in lines or glabrate; petioles 1-4 mm. long; leaf -blades elliptic to oblong-obovate or spatulate-obovate, 1.2-5 cm. long, 0.5-2.2 cm. wide, rounded to acuminate at the apex, cuneate at the base, entire or obscurely denticulate, bright-green, glabrous, or sparsely villous along the nerves beneath; heads sessile, axillary, solitary or glomerate, subglobose, the flowers white; bracts and bractlets ovate, mucronate, one third to half as long as the sepals, glabrous; sepals broadly ovate, 1.5 mm. long, acute, hyaline, 1 -nerved, glabrous, the margins obscurely denticulate; filaments subulate-linear, the tube about as long as the ovary; staminodia equaling the filaments, subulate, entire; style very short; utricle obcordate, equaling or slightly exceeding the calyx, compressed; seed 1 mm. long, yellowish, dull.
Type locality: India.
Distribution: General in the West Indies; Costa Rica; also from the Guianas to Brazil, and n Africa, southern and eastern Asia, the East Indies, and Australia.

Alternanthera nodiflora (common name common joyweed) is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is endemic to Australia, growing in all mainland states. It is naturalised in Tasmania, over much of Africa, in Japan, and in Myanmar.