Keys at Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & KeysAcalypha ciliata, Acalypha indica, Acalypha lanceolata & Acalypha malabarica) as below:

Capsules hispid, bracts with glandular hairs- Acalypha malabarica
Capsules glabrous, bracts without glandular hairs Acalypha lanceaolata
 
Common name: Indian Copperleaf, Indian acalypha, Indian nettle,
three-seeded-mercury • Hindi: कुप्पी Kuppi,
कुप्पीखोखली kuppikhokhali • Marathi: कुपी kupi •
Tamil: கொழிப்பூண்டு koli-p-puntu, குப்பைமேனி
kuppai-meni • Malayalam: കുപ്പമേനി kuppameni • Telugu: హరితమంజరి harita-manjari, కుప్పి kuppi • Kannada: ಕುಪ್ಪುಗಿಡ kuppugida • Bengali: মুক্তঝুরি mukta jhuri, শ্বেত বসন্ত sbeta basanta •
Gujarati: vanchi kanto, Dadano • Sanskrit: हरित मञ्जरी harita manjari 


Annual herbs. Leaves alternate, 3-5 cm long, broadly ovate, nearly triangular, rather coarsely toothed; petiole to 4 cm long. Spikes axillary, erect, sessile or peduncled and androgynous, 1.5-8 cm long, nearly glabrous or finely pubescent. Three-fourth of the spikes is occupied by female bracts and the male flowers are clustered only at the one-fourth upper portion. Bracts number about 18-20, campanulate to subcampanulate or cup- shaped, folded, 3-4 mm across, crenate-dentate, shallowly dentate or conspicuously 9 to 12-toothed with acute teeth along margins, pubescent, strongly parallel-veined, and gland-dotted. 
Flowering and fruiting: August-September 
Wastelands
India to Polynesia

 
Mumbai  

Date: August 27, 2008 … Altitude: about 15 m (50 feet) asl
Acalypha lanceolata  Willd.

Dear friends, please help in validating this Acalypha to be A. lanceolata … …, your thoughts please, if these only photos help.

This appears to be Acalypha ciliata Forssk. However you may compare with the description of the species given in Flora of India, vol. 23: page 94, for confirmation.


Thanks a lot … Will try to check Flora of India.


Thanks, … But Acalypha ciliata Forssk. looks much different as per images at
May I request you to kindly have a relook pl.


Yes, A. lanceolata


On further checking in efi site and with inserted images by …, I fell it more close to images at Acalypha malabarica Müll.Arg., as I feel involucrum margin is gland tipped.
I request … to pl. check with the original images and post them if possible.


We have to check with the description of the bracts as below (both from India Biodiversity Portal):
All spikes axillary and sessile, short, up to 3 cm long, androgynous, finely pubescent. Male flowers ca 0.5 mm across, very few, clustered near the apex of spikes. Female flowers 2-2.5 mm across, 6-8 along the basal portion of the spike; bracts alternate, foliaceous, subcampanulate, funnel-shaped, folded, ca 5 mm across, shallowly toothed, bordered with long gland-tipped hairs along peripheral portion and margin, pilose, hairy or nearly glabrous, roughly coriaceous, gland-dotted, many-nerved.
Spikes axillary, erect, sessile or peduncled and androgynous, 1.5-8 cm long, nearly glabrous or finely pubescent. Three-fourth of the spikes is occupied by female bracts and the male flowers are clustered only at the one-fourth upper portion. Bracts number about 18-20, campanulate to subcampanulate or cup- shaped, folded, 3-4 mm across, crenate-dentate, shallowly dentate or conspicuously 9 to 12-toothed with acute teeth along margins, pubescent, strongly parallel-veined, and gland-dotted.
Keeping this in mind, I will also think it to be A. lanceolata only.


  

via Species‎ > ‎A‎ > Acalypha indica L. … family: Euphorbiaceae

…………… 
August 27, 2008 … Mumbai


Image appears to be of Acalypha ciliata Forssk. rather than those of Acalypha indica L. 

Thanks … for this validation.
Will do the revisions in my notes. Let me pull out all my Acalypha indica sightings for validations.


in this case … might be right. i personally want to see close up….

more close to see details of the florets


Attaching a cropped version of the picture in this post above. Hope it helps you to see a little closer, though at loss of picture quality. I had not clicked more pictures then, because it was not convenient going near to that plant.
Attachments (1)

thanks. the green cups i.e. the involucres are toothed.

in mukta jhuri i see usually may have some small bumps but not in the same intensity or density per linear cms of the cup’s top edge.
it seems different. i dont have access to the purely scientific detailed description handy and someone in my family has a stroke. i cant spend time to look for one either. i am going mainly by memory. pardon me if i am wrong but this is different looking


Thanks … I will go with … thought of A. ciliata.


…, please consider checking possibility of Acalypha malabarica Müll.Arg., though the quality of photo does not show the fine gland tipped hairs on the cup.
A. ciliata seems to have a relatively more fimbriate bract cup – as we see in images at Acalypha ciliata Forssk.


Yes, …, You may be right if we go by … post at Identification of Acalypha sp.

Thanks …, Looking at all possibilities, I feel strongly that, the pictures above belong to, A. malabarica.
Will make changes accordingly in flickr notes.
Here are keys based on bracts, provided by one of my contacts at flickr,
1 … Bracts deeply 5-lobed … … A. brachystachya
1 … Bracts dentate, not deeply lobed
2 … Teeth of bracts with gland tipped hairs … … A. malabarica
2 … Teeth of bracts without gland tipped hair
3 … bracts ending in long subulate hispid teeth … … A. ciliata
3 … bracts ending in shallowly dentate tips … … A. indica

…, I have messed up this post. This must be A. lanceolata and not A. malabarica.
I am posting whatever pictures I have in a separate post for identification / validation.

Appears to be appears to be Acalypha ciliata Forssk. as per another thread.

Thank you … for checking into this post. I had separately posted in another thread all pictures of plant posted here.
Actually this (my) plant is put at Flowers of India with the ID –  Acalypha lanceolata … I forgot to label accordingly in my flickr notes.
If we give a good look at the sepal cups’ fringes of ciliata and lanceolata, there is considerable difference.
I strongly think this plant to be A. lanceolata.
I wish more members validate this ID.


… has identified it as Acalypha ciliata Forssk.
I have also forwarded my Acalypha lanceolata posts for reidentification to him. Let us wait what he says.

OK …, many thanks for following up on this. Will wait for … thoughts.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *