FoI
Shrubby Buttonweed
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Shrubby Buttonweed
aturalized Photo: Shashidharswamy Hiremath
Common name: Shrubby Buttonweed
Botanical name: Spermacoce verticillata    Family: Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
Synonyms: Spermacoce globosa, Borreria verticillata

Shrubby Buttonweed is a perennial weed, hairless or nearly so, usually erect and simple or sparsely branched, often copiously branched from the base, usually 40 cm high or less, the stems tetragonous. Leaves are stalkless or nearly so, linear or lance-linear, mostly 1.5-4 cm long and 1.5-6 mm broad, commonly 1-nerved, often with fascicles of smaller leaves in the axils. Flower heads are borne mainly at the top but sometimes arising also from the upper leaf axils, giving the appearing of distant clusters. The terminal heads are subtended by 2 or 4 leaflike bracts. Hypanthium is hairy above, the 2 sepals narrowly triangular, 1.5 mm long or less. Flowers are white, 3 mm long, hispidulous outside at the apex, the petals about equaling the tube. Anthers are protruding. Capsule is 2.5 mm long, seeds brown. Shrubby Buttonweed is native to South America, a widespread weed in India.

Identification credit: J.M. Garg Photographed in Karnataka.

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