Photo 165021487, (c) Chuck Sexton, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Chuck Sexton

Attribution © Chuck Sexton
some rights reserved
Uploaded by gcwarbler gcwarbler
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Standley's Bloodleaf (Iresine heterophylla)

Observer

gcwarbler

Date

September 25, 2021 02:43 PM CDT

Description

Here's another mystery forb that I can't even put into a family. It has:
-- A few single ascending weak stems which are angulate in cross-section, ridged in inflorescence, sparsely short villous.
-- Lower leaves petiolate, opposite, lax, rhombic-ovate, 3-5 cm long, by 2-3 cm wide; impressed venation above; stellate (?) pubescent above. Size reduced above.
-- Inflorescence (best close-up in 3rd image) is a racemose array of simple and compound, oppositely arranged spike-like clusters of tiny flowers; each raceme branch subtended by a reduced leaf. Flowers sessile on spike axis, densely clustered, especially distally. May be monoecious (?) but I can't find stamens or staminate flowers for sure. Apparent pistilate flowers 5-merous, minute (2 to 3 mm across) with a deeply divided hyaline perianth, each segment lanceolate, acuminate. Pistil ovoid or globose, style possibly divided (?).
I can't discern any fruits but I might assume they are minute capsules. The inflorescences have an abundance of small clusters of fine fluffy hairs, but I can't tell if they derive from the inflorescence or are foreign to the plant and just stuck on it. (I suspect they are part of the inflorescence.)
Growing in partial shade of oak-juniper woodland.

I've tried to place this in any of several families in the Caryophyllales order, such as Amaranthaceae (incl. Chenopodiaceae), Polygonaceae, etc., as well as Urticaceae and others, but I can't find anything like this.

Sizes