Gomphrena serrata

Gomphrena serrata L., Sp. Pl. 1: 224. 1753; Mears, Taxon, 29: 86. 1980; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 542. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 595. 2006; keralaplants.in; G. decumbens Jacq., Hort. Schoenberg.t.482. 1805; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1179. 1925; G. celosioides auct. non. Mart.; Bennet, Fl. Howrah 142. 1979; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu Illustr. 2.t.: 242. 1983.

Annual-perennial herb, erect, prostrate or decumbent-ascending. Stems 10-50 cm long, much branched from base, villous with long white hairs. Leaves opposite, 1.8-5 cm x 0.5-1.5 cm, subsessile; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, spatulate, oblanceolate, apex obtuse or subacute, apiculate, margin entire, ciliate, sparsely pilose on upper surface, densely pilose on lower surface, base attenuate into a short narrow, flat or concave petiole, up to 1 cm long, pilose. Inflorescence terminal, silvery white, subglobose or ovoid, 1-2 cm x 1-1.3 cm spikes, finally elongating into 3-4 cm long spikes; spikes subtended by a pair of opposite leaves and below a long peduncle, up to 15 cm long, appressed pilose. Flowers ca. 6 mm x 3 mm long, white, compressed, bisexual, bracteate, 2- bracteolate. Bracts 2.8-3.5 mm long, deltoid-ovate, acute, shortly mucronate, cristate along abaxial surface of midrib in the upper 1/3rd portion, persistent. Bracteoles 5-5.5 mm long, laterally compressed, carinate, mucronate, midrib furnished abaxially with a small irregularly dentate crest, deciduous with fruit. Tepals 5-5.5 mm long, erect, free, subequal, lanceolate, 1-nerved; outer 3 white, nearly flat, mucronate, lanate only at base, nerve thick and greenish below; inner 2 slightly longer, greenish, densely lanate almost to the tip, indurate at the base. Stamens 5, monoadelphous basally into a tube, anthers alternating with staminal teeth, staminal teeth 5, deeply bilobed; pseudostaminodes absent. Ovary obovoid, 1.3 mm x 1 mm, unilocular with a single pendulous ovule; style short; stigmas 2; style and stigmas ca. 0.7 mm long. Utricle +/- 1.8 mm long, shortly compressed-pyriform, irregularly rupturing. Seed 1, 1.3 mm across, compressed-ovoid, smooth or faintly reticulate, brown, shining.

Flowering and Fruiting: May to August
Common Names: Prostrate Gomphrena, Prostrate Globe Amaranth, Coastal Globe Amaranth