1.
Achyranthes aspera
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 204. 1753, name conserved.
Centrostachys aspera
(Linnaeus) Standley
Plants
perennial or annual.
Stems
0.4-2 m, pilose or puberulent.
Leaf blades
elliptic, ovate, or broadly ovate to orbiculate, obovate-orbiculate, or broadly rhombate, 1-20 × 2-6 cm, adpressed-pubescent abaxially and adaxially.
Inflorescences
to 30 cm; bracts mem-branous; bracteoles long-aristate, spinose; wings attached at sides and base.
Flowers:
tepals 4 or 5, length 3-7 mm; pseudostaminodes with margins fimbriate at apex, often with dorsal scale.
Utricles
± cylindric, 2-4 mm, apex truncate or depressed.
Varieties 6 (2 in the flora): se United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Eurasia, Africa.
Achyranthes aspera
is a variable, pantropical species divided into six varieties (C. C. Townsend 1974), two of which occur in the flora. The variety with a long perianth and acuminate leaves has long been called var.
aspera
; the variety with a short perianth and blunt leaves, var.
indica
. However, A. Cavaco (1962) showed that the type of var.
indica
must be the type of the species
A. aspera
, thus var.
indica
is a homotypic synonym of var.
aspera
. Townsend made the combination
A. aspera
var.
pubescens
for plants previously called var.
aspera
.
