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

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

NA

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].