Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Rough-pod copperleaf

ROUGH-POD COPPERLEAF

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Acalypha ostryifolia Riddell

Cowley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 6-27 inches

Family: Euphorbiaceae - Spurge Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Also Called:

Hop-hornbeam copperleaf.

Stems:

Erect, branched, puberulent and usually also glandular-pubescent distally; sap watery.

Leaves:

Alternate; stipule present; petiole .8 to 3.5 inches; blade ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic, 1.6 to 4 inches long, .6 to 2.4 inches wide, with 3 or 5 prominent veins arising from base, base cordate, margins serrate, tip acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous or with scattered appressed hairs.

Inflorescences:

Spikes; pistillate and staminate flowers in separate spikes, pistillate spikes terminal, staminate spikes axillary; bracts of pistillate flowers with 9-17(-19) narrowly triangular to linear lobes, glabrate or sparsely spreading-hairy and with a few glandular hairs.

Flowers:

Staminate flowers: sepals 4, distinct; stamens 4-8. Pistillate flowers: sepals 3, distinct; petals 0; styles divided, distinct or essentially so.

Fruits:

Capsules not concealed by bracts, 3-seeded, less than .1 inch, echinate, especially distally, pubescent; seeds orangish brown or gray, broadly ovoid, tiny, tuberculate.

Habitat:

River and stream banks, flood plains, prairie ravines, roadsides, old fields, pastures, especially in rocky soil.

Distribution:

East 2/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Acalypha, unattractive + touch, alluding to the resemblance of the leaves to those of nettles, and ostryifolia, alluding to the resemblance of the leaves to plants of the genus Ostrya.

Rough-pod copperleaf staminate spike