Alternanthera nodiflora

Alternanthera nodiflora (common name common joyweed)^[4] is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae.^[1][2] It is endemic to Australia, growing in all mainland states.^[4] It is naturalised in Tasmania, over much of Africa, in Japan, and in Myanmar.^[5]

Alternanthera nodiflora
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Amaranthaceae
Genus:	Alternanthera
Species:	A. nodiflora
Binomial name
Alternanthera nodiflora R.Br.[1][2]
Synonyms[3]
Alternanthera nodiflora var. linearifolia Moq. Alternanthera nodiflora R.Br. var. nodiflora Alternanthera triandra var. nodiflora (R.Br.) Maiden & Betche

Description

Alternanthera nodiflora is an erect annual herb. The branches are almost without a covering but the nodes are covered with dense intertwined hairs, and there are two lines of hairs along the branches. The leaves, too, are almost without a covering and are linear, 2-8 cm long and have smooth margins. The inflorescences are globular, and often clustered. The fruit is less than half the length of the perianth. The style is very short.^[6]

Taxonomy and naming

It was first described by Robert Brown in 1810.^[1][2] The type specimen is BM001015779 (collected on the east coast of Australia); Isotypes are E00279928 (collected at Broadsound), P00622600 (all three collected by Brown). The name is accepted by the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria,^[1] by Plants of the World online,^[5] but is considered a synonym of Alternanthera sessilis by Catalogue of Life.^[7]

The specific epithet, nodiflora, derives from the Latin, nodus,( "knot" or "node") and flos, floris ("flower") to give an adjective describing the plant as having flowers arranged in a knot-shaped inflorescence or flowering at the nodes.^[8]

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