Pringle Three-seeded Mercury
Acalypha californica
Observed in bloom in the Ajo Mountains, Pima Co., Arizona, USA. 21 March 2010. The red, thread-like structures are the elongated styles of the female flower. This inflorescence does not have any male flowers and has two female flowers.
RANGE: Infrequent near
Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona. Also in northern Mexico and
southern California. Habitat is partially shady, well watered canyons.
SUB-SHRUB: Mostly herbaceous stems are ½ to
1 meter or more tall and are reddish in color. Lower portions of the
plant are woody.
LEAVES: Alternate hairy to glandular leaves are light or dark green and
have rounded teeth on the margins (crenulate). The leaves may also have a
reddish cast especially during the winter season.
FRUIT: Distinctly three-valved capsules.
FLOWERS: The minute male flowers are numerous in a catkin-like spike
directly above the one to three female flowers. The female flowers are set
inside a green, cup-like brackt and have long, conspicuous, red, branching
stigmas. See close-up view at left.
UNARMED