Acalypha wilkesiana

Tilcayo Cats original · Plants · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Acalypha wilkesiana, often called copperleaf, is an evergreen ornamental shrub in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is grown for foliage that can combine green with copper, red, pink or other colours. Kew accepts it as a species and places its native range in the southwestern Pacific, from the Bismarck Archipelago to islands including Fiji and Vanuatu.

Appearance

The Flora of North America describes upright shrubs about two to five metres tall. Their broad, pointed leaves have toothed margins and measure approximately nine to twenty centimetres long. Male and female flowers occur on the same plant, usually in separate slender clusters arising where the leaves meet the stems.

Garden selections differ considerably in leaf colour and shape. The foliage is more conspicuous than the small flowers; copperleaf is therefore usually grown as a foliage plant rather than for a floral display.

Cultivation and spread

North Carolina Extension describes cultivation in consistently moist soil with good drainage. Strong light favours leaf colour, although light shade is tolerated. Plants can be propagated from shoot-tip cuttings and grown in containers; specimens kept indoors need bright light.

The Flora of North America records occasional naturalisation despite low seed production. Its Florida records include disturbed ground and old home sites, and it notes that naturalised plants often have less colourful foliage than garden selections.

Names and origins

The name Acalypha wilkesiana dates from 1866. Kew treats Acalypha godseffiana as a synonym. In horticulture, the Royal Horticultural Society recognises the cultivar name Acalypha wilkesiana ‘Godseffiana’.

The plant has also been classified as Acalypha amentacea subsp. wilkesiana. The Flora of North America treats it separately, citing DNA evidence. That flora describes a presumed southwestern Pacific origin but says the ancestral wild plant is unknown; its long cultivation history makes the origin less certain than a simple native-range label suggests.