Acalypha malabarica Müll.Arg., Linnaea 34: 42 1865. (Syn: Ricinocarpus malabaricus (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze);
Keys at Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & Keys– Acalypha 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: Malabar Copperleaf The gland-tipped hairs on the bracts of female flowers is the distinctive feature of this species.
Annual herbs. Levaes alternate, 3-5 x 2.5-3.5 cm, ovate, acute, margins toothed, hispd on both sides; basally 3-nerved; petioles often longer than the lamina. 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. Flowering and fruiting: July-December
Wastelands and roadsides
Peninsular India (Endemic)
30 Aug 2019 VNR 03: Acalypha sps for id : 5 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (7) – around 300 kb each. Identification request: Date: 30.08.2019 Location- Place: Amadagur, Anantapur Dist. Andhra Pradesh. Altitude: 651 m Habitat- Wild (Common weed) Plant Habit- Annual Herb Height/Length- up to 40 cm Leaves Shape: Deltoid Inflorescence TypeAxillary, 3-8. Bracts- Bracts shorter than the calyx, with glands. It is very closely allied to my previous post (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/indiantreepix/nagaraju%7Csort:date/indiantreepix/oWn0yZBhw20/U3rjOCsBBgAJ), but glands present on the stem & Petiole and Deltoid Leaf are the different characters. Acalypha lanceolata I got keys at Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & Keys– Acalypha 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
In view, I will go for Acalypha malabarica
Yes, it is Acalypha malabarica.
Requesting for id small herb: Was very small herb about 20 cm from ground orchid like appearance clicked it at pandharpur 5/12/12 in grassland under bushes. Check with Acylipha sp. (Euphorbiaceae) This is Acalypha sp. most probably A.lanceolata. family: Euphorbiaceae.
The leaves are missing. Please provide images of leaves if available.
sorry there was no any leaves out there only this small spike was there thanks both of you for id this species 🙂
Agree with … it is Acalypha lanceolata ID Request 240813SG : Attachments (4). 6 posts by 4 authors.
Help ID of following herb, photographed on 21Aug13.
Looks like Acalypha indica … Euphorbiaceae
This could possibly be Acalypha malabarica.
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Acalypha malabarica
Euphorbiaceae fortnight : Acalypha malabarica : Attachments (2). 4 posts by 3 authors.
Acalypha malabarica
Pateshwer, Satara
August , 2013
Beautiful pictures. Great find!
Yes. this is Acalypha malabarica Muell.Arg. The gland-tipped hairs on the bracts of female flowers is the distinctive feature of this species. SGNP, Aug 2014 :: Requesting ID of this plant :: ARKSEP-10 : 6 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (2).
Is it possible to ID this plant captured at Kanheri Caves, SGNP in Aug 2014.
This is the only pic that I have. Also attached is a cropped pic of the flowers.
Acalypha sp Thank you … Can this be Acalypha malabarica then?
Acalypha malabarica Müll.Arg.
Congrats … for Clicking an Endemic
I will be thankful for the identification of the attached Acalypha sp.
Branched herb.
Recorded at Vellore, Tamilnadu on 30-08-15
Acalypha fruticosa. Further habit of A.fruticosa is shrub whereas the specimen submitted is herb. In that case try Acalypha malabarica. Acalypha malabarica may be taken into account. Yes, this appears to be Acalypha malabarica Muell.Arg. Please find this herb : 6 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (2).
This plant was found in a lake bund near Chennai on 03/11/2009.
Kindly help to identify this Euphorbiaceae member. Could this be Micrococca mercurialis ?
Looks like Acalypha.
I too think it is Acalypha indica Acalypha indica only In view of discussions in another thread, after checking all the threads under Acalypha indica L.,
I found this post to be different & appears like Acalypha lanceolata.
Also appears to be matching with the following:
http://media.eol.org/content/2012/12/16/14/85366_orig.jpg
No comments to offer from my side without seeing specimens. Yes sir, sure! I ‘ll go with A. lanceolata.
I got keys at Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & Keys– Acalypha 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
In view, I will go for Acalypha malabarica
I agree with … ID, Acalypha malabarica.
28 AUG 2017 VNR 02: Acalypha sps for id : 6 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (4) 28-08-2017
Open fields and weed in crop lands, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
small herb.
Pl. check comparative images at
This is possibly Acalypha lanceolata.
efi page on Acalypha lanceolata Acalypha lanceolata Willd. ?
Looks like A. ciliata. Not A. indica. Thanks, …, Why not A. lanceolata? In favour of A. ciliata I wd say involucrum margin is ciliated here and on zooming in , gives a hint of being gland-tipped too, but not very clear ………in A. indica, leaves give away the id, in A. malabarica fruits turn red, in A. lanceolata involucrum margin is toothed cleanly, that is no gland or hair and tooth number is more, height equal plus tooth base narrow compared to A. indica. These are my amateur observations, luckily I have seen all four species in Surat. nice distinctions in a nut shell Does … have the respective photographs to share here?
1 image.
One more of A. lanceolata.
All photos from Surat, shot in August-September of 2015. 1 image.
Sorry for delay. This one here is Acalypha indica ……..long petiole with tapered leaf base is unique for this species.
I take it as a base and move forward to clarify what I think …. please correct me if I am not right in my assumptions ..
This here is floral spike and shallowly toothed involucrum of same species.
1 image
This here is floral spike and shallowly toothed involucrum of same species.
2 images. Now these two here, I think, are Acalypha malabarica with red fruits. Involucrum teeth have glandular hairs.2 images.
This here is Acalypha ciliata in my opinion …….involucrum has long filiform structures instead of teeth ……..
2 image.
Last one here in my opinion is Acalypha lanceolate
What else I have noticed is, Acalypha malabarica and A. ciliata express red in stem, petiole , leaf and leaf veins, A. indica and A. lanceolata do not.
(This is first time I am uploading images in our forum, and it took time getting to know how to do it, and I have yet to learn remaining tricks.) Thanks … for the comparative pics of Acalypha ( lanceolata | indica | malabarica | ciliata ). 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 (as already hinted by …) .
I request Nagaraju ji to pl. attach original image of IMG_2904 and IMG_2909, so that these details can be clearly deciphered.
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.
I fell it more close to images at Acalypha malabarica Müll.Arg. as per descriptions at
I got keys at Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & Keys– Acalypha 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
In view, I will go for Acalypha malabarica
I think you’re right Garg Ji, I too agreed with you for malabarica, but above-mentioned characters are overlapped, that both sp. has glandular hairy on bracts. I hope this is good for differentiation
Inflorescence up to 8 cm in mature plant, at least 5 cm when young………….A. lanceolata
Inflorescence up to 3 cm only, when it young below the 3 cm…………..A. malabarica.
Thanks, … As per present observations in efi site, this is also not a good differentiation.
My observation is, in A. malabarica, whole plant is yellowish green, more glandular hairs, fruits variably express red color. A. lanceolata is Dark green, fruit same color, hairs less. Also, other than A. indica, I find inflorescence axis is held close to stem. I think we need to upgrade our knowledge. work up the published keys. supplement them with our member … personal observations and detailed photography and his write ups. science always progresses. its never stagnant. nothing is written in stone
References: The Plant List Flowers of India India Biodiversity Portal Flora of Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India By T. Pullaiah, Chintala Prabhakar, B. Ravi Prasad Rao (Description & Keys– Acalypha ciliata, Acalypha indica, Acalypha lanceolata & Acalypha malabarica) |