Stems erect, simple or branched, 2-6 dm, glabrous or puberulent in lines or throughout with incurved hairs, often with a few spreading hairs as well; petioles slender, divaricate, those of the larger lvs regularly more than half as long as the blades, these spreading, lanceolate to ovate, with a tendency to be rhombic; pistillate bracts 5-9-lobed, usually stipitate-glandular (visible at 10ש but without long hairs; staminate spikes scarcely exceeding the bracts; seeds 3, 1-2 mm. Dry or moist soil of open woods, roadsides, waste places, and gardens; Que. to N.D., s. to Fla. and Tex. Perhaps better treated as A. virginica var. rhomboidea (Raf.) Cooperr.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

This species is a frequent to a common weed in all parts of the state in almost all kinds of habitats. It usually occurs in a moist black loam or sandy soil but will thrive in any kind of soil from gravel bars to dry, open, wooded slopes. It is usually found in the open and in such places it is more abundant. It is found in open, wet or dry woods, fallow or cultivated fields, and waste places and along roads and railroads.

......

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 0

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU

Diagnostic Traits: Bracts mostly 7-9 lobed, stipatate-glandular; petioles >0.5 as long as blade.

For faunal associates see Illinois Wildflowers.

One member of the genus, Acalypha indica, has found usage in folk medicine. See Prota4U