Melochia nodiflora

Common Name: Bretonica prieta

Family: Malvaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: NA

Growth Habit: Herb, Subshrub or Shrub

Origin: Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean

FISC Category: -

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: First recorded in Florida in 2007

IFAS Assessment:

North: Not Assessed
Central: Not Assessed
South: Not Assessed

Pink flowers, stems and leaves with herbivore damage — Dick Culbert

Description

Herbs, annual or perennial, or subshrubs, to 2 m, taprooted. Leaves: petiole 0.3–5.5 cm; blade ovate to lanceolate, 1.3–9 × 1–7 cm, glabrate, hairs simple on veins. Inflorescences terminal, cymose glomerules, 10–25-flowered; bracteoles 3 or 4, immediately subtending flower. Flowers monomorphic; calyx 2–2.5 mm, teeth acute, distant and sinuses between them rounded; petals purple, pink, or white with yellow base, 3–6 × 1–1.5 mm; stamens and pistil equal, 2.5–3.2 mm. Fruits schizocarps, white, pink, green, purplish, or black. Seeds 1 per locule.

Habitat

Agricultural lands, open pinelands, meadows, waste ground, wet or dry soil

Comments

Flowering to fruiting, spring to fall

Control Methods

Manual: NA
Chemical: NA
Biological: NA

Control Notes

References

Kunzer, J.M., R.P. Wunderlin, L.C. Anderson, and J.R. Burkhalter. 2009. New and noteworthy plants from Florida. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 3(1) 331–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41972178.

Wunderlin, R. P., B. F. Hansen, A. R. Franck, and F. B. Essig. 2022. Atlas of Florida Plants (http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/). [S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), USF Water Institute.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Boufford, D. E. Fumaria. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico [Online]. 22+ vols. New York and Oxford. Vol. 6 http://floranorthamerica.org/Melochia_corchorifolia. Accessed [2 August 2022].

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