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:
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.
Agricultural lands, open pinelands, meadows, waste ground, wet or dry soil
Flowering to fruiting, spring to fall
NA
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].