FoI
Fig Joyweed
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Fig Joyweed
aturalized elliptic Photo: Dinesh Valke
Common name: Fig Joyweed • Marathi: कुसळ kusal • Telugu: అడవి పున్నాగంటె అలము Adavi Punnaganti Aalamu
Botanical name: Alternanthera ficoidea    Family: Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family)
Synonyms: Gomphrena ficoidea, Alternanthera tenella

Fig Joyweed is a perennial herb, native to South America, and now naturalized in India. Stems are prostrate or erect, mostly 1-3 ft long, moderately branched, hairless below, generally hairy above and in leaf-axils. Leaves are inverted-lancelike or narrowly elliptic, acute at apex, narrowed at the base into a poorly defined petiole, hairless or velvety., mostly 2-6 cm long and 0.6-2.0 cm wide. Round or short-cylindrical flower heads lie stalkless in leaf axils, 5-10 mm long, 5-7 mm wide. Flowering: August.

Identification credit: Dinesh Valke Photographed in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka.

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