General Information |
Distribution | Native to the Neotropics, but now widely naturalized in many parts of the world.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
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Habit
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Perennial herbs; stems prostrate, rarely ascending, sometimes rooting at the nodes, 1-5 dm long, pilose, the hairs multicellular.
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Leaves
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Leaves ovate to obovate, 0.5-4.5 cm long, 0.3-2 cm wide, glabrous to sparsely appressed pilose, petioles 2-10 mm long.
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Flowers
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Flowers in sessile, sparsely pubescent spikes, bract ca. 4 mm long, tipped with a spine 2-3 mm long, bracteoles 3-4 mm long, acute; sepals unequal, the 2 abaxial ones 4-5 mm long, spine tipped, the spine usually more than 2 mm long, other sepals not spine tipped; stamens 5, all fertile.
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Fruit
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Utricles 1.2-1.5 mm long, enclosed by the sepals.
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Chromosomes
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2n = 64.
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