Achyranthes sicula

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

Achyranthes sicula is a flowering plant in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. Plants of the World Online accepts it as a species native to Macaronesia and the Mediterranean region. Its current name dates from 1773; Linnaeus had named it as a variety of Achyranthes aspera in 1753.

Appearance

The Flora de Andalucía describes an upright plant, thirty to seventy centimetres tall, with a woody base. Its stalked leaves grow in opposite pairs. They have unbroken edges, pointed tips and a silvery, hairy underside.

Long, narrow spikes carry small flowers, each less than five millimetres long. The flowers turn downwards as they mature. Five tough floral segments surround the fruit, and these and the small bracteoles become spiny. The hanging fruits remain closed rather than splitting open to release their contents.

Habitat and distribution

The Andalusian flora records the plant in tall herb vegetation on nitrogen-rich ground, at elevations up to about two hundred metres, flowering from March to July. These are regional observations, not limits for its entire range.

The sources differ over geographical origin. The Andalusian account treats it as a naturalised plant of tropical African and Asian origin, whereas Kew's current treatment places its native range in Macaronesia and the Mediterranean. The broader origin statement should therefore not be treated as an uncontested current range.

Names

Kew places both Achyranthes argentea Lam. and Achyranthes argentea Thwaites under A. sicula. The former is listed as a superfluous illegitimate name and the latter as an illegitimate later homonym. Thus the bare name Achyranthes argentea has more than one author-qualified usage, but both lead to this species in Kew's treatment.