铁苋菜 tie xian cai

Acalypha australis var. lanceolata Hayata; A. chinensis Roxburgh; A. indica Linnaeus var. minima (H. Keng) S. F. Huang & T. C. Huang; A. minima H. Keng; A. pauciflora Hornemann; Urtica gemina Loureiro.

Annual herbs, 0.2-0.5 m tall, monoecious. Branchlets pilose. Stipules lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm; petiole 2-6 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate, ± rhombic-ovate, or broadly lanceolate, 3-9 × 1-5 cm, membranous, abaxially pilosulose along veins, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, rarely obtuse, crenate, apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, rarely terminal, unbranched, 1.5-5 cm, pilosulose, bisexual; peduncle 0.5-3 cm; female bracts proximal, 1 or 2(-4), ovate, cordate, accrescent to 1.4-2.5 × 1-2 cm in fruit, pilose, margin crenate; male portion distal, short to almost capitate, slender; bracts ovate, ca. 0.5 mm. Male flowers 5-7 per bract; pedicel ca. 0.5 mm; calyx segments 4, ca. 0.5 mm; stamens (7 or)8. Female flowers 1-3 per bract, sessile; sepals 3, narrowly ovate, 0.5-1 mm, pilose; ovary pilose; styles 3, ca. 2 mm, 5-7-laciniate. Capsule 3-locular, ca. 4 mm in diam., pilose and tuberculate. Seeds subovoid, 1.5-2 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Apr-Dec.

Grasslands, slopes, cultivated areas; below 100-1200(-1900) m. Throughout China except Nei Mongol and Xinjiang [Japan, Korea, Laos, Philippines, E Russia, Vietnam; naturalized in N Australia and E India].