Iresine heterophylla

Herbs, perennial, 5-10 dm. Stems erect to ascending or sprawling, sparsely pubescent. Leaves opposite; blade ovate, 3-6 × 2-4 cm, apex rounded to acute, pubescent. Inflorescences: panicles 1.5-4 dm; bracts and bracteoles ¹/2-¹/3 as long as tepals. Flowers pedicellate; tepals whitish to stramineous, ovate, 1-1.3 mm, apex acute, densely lanate. Utricles included in tepals, greenish, ovoid, 0.8 mm, apex acute. Seeds 0.6 mm.

Flowering summer. Sheltered ravines, canyons, pastures; 1400-2000 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Sonora).

FNA 2004, Kearney and Peebles 1969 , Shreve and Wiggins 1964

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herbs, 50-100 cm tall, from slender rootstock; stems erect to ascending or sprawling, sparsely pubescent. Leaves: Opposite and petiolate, the blades variable, papery-thin and dusty green, broadly rhombic to ovate with acute to rounded tips, glabrous above and scabrous on margins and veins of lower surface. Flowers: Whitish, in dense, narrow terminal panicles, 10-40 cm long and 3-10 cm wide; flowers small, the tepals 5, ovate, covered in wooly hairs. Fruits: Utricles ovoid, greenish, indehiscent, held within tepals; seeds orbicular-lenticular, red-brown, shiny, 0.6 mm. Ecology: Found in ravines, canyons, and pastures, from 4,500-7,000 ft (1372-2134 m); flowers September-February. Distribution: AZ, NM, TX; south to n MEX(Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Le-n, Sonora). Notes: Find this slender perennial herb in wet areas at middle elevations in extreme southern Arizona. Look for the small white tufts of the flowers and the opposite, papery-thin leaves. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Iresine is derived from a Greek work meaning woolly, while heterophylla means many different leaves. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, AHazelton 2015