Tragia urticifolia

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Tragia urticifolia
Tragia urticifolia Gil.jpg
Photo was taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order: Euphorbiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Tragia
Species: T. urticifolia
Binomial name
Tragia urticifolia
Michx.
TRAG URTI dist.jpg
Natural range of Tragia urticifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Nettleleaf noseburn

Taxonomic notes

Synonym: T. urticaefolia.[1]

Description

"Monoecious, perennial, rhizomatous herbs, armed with stinging trichomes. Leaves alternate, stipulate. Racemes axillary or terminal, or both, lowest 1 or 2 flowers pistillate, the upper staminate. Flowers greenish or purplish; petals absent; staminate flowers with 3-5 sepals and 2 or 3 stamens; pistillate with 3-8 sepals and 3 stigmas. Capsule 3-locular, 4-5 mm long, 7-8 mm in diam., each locule 1-seeded. Seeds light brown with darker mottling, or entirely dark brown, ovoid, 3-3.5 mm long; caruncle obsolete."[2]

"Plants 2-6 dm tall, stems strict or little branched, often reclining. Leaves triangular-ovate, 2-6 cm long, 0.7-4 cm wide, simply or doubly serrate, base truncate to subcordate; petioles 5-15 mm long. Racemes 1-4 cm long."[2]

Distribution

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, T. urticifolia can be found in limestone glades, recently burned pine-oak woods, longleaf pine forests, and in pine savannas.[3] It has been recorded to grow in sandy loam and clay loam soils.[3][4]

Associated species include shortleaf pine, red oak, post oak, mockernut hickory, and longleaf pine.[3]

Phenology

T. urticifolia has been observed flowering May through July and in September and fruiting in June and September.[3][5]

Seed dispersal

This species is thought to be dispersed by ants and/or explosive dehiscence.[6]

Fire ecology

Populations of Tragia urticifolia have been known to persist through repeated annual burning.[7]

Conservation, cultivation, and restoration

Cultural use

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. Weakley, A.S. 2015. Flora of the southern and mid-atlantic states. Working Draf of 21 May 2015. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 665. Print.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Ann F. Johnson, Wilson Baker, R. A. Norris, Andre F. Clewell, Robert K. Godfrey, Loran C. Anderson, Annie Schmidt, A. Johnson, M. Jenkins. States and Counties: Florida: Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Washington. Georgia: Decatur, Lowndes, Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
  4. Miller, J. H., R. S. Boyd, et al. (1999). "Floristic diversity, stand structure, and composition 11 years after herbicide site preparation." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 29: 1073-1083.
  5. Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 14 DEC 2016
  6. Kirkman, L. Katherine. Unpublished database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center, Georgia.
  7. Platt, W.J., R. Carter, G. Nelson, W. Baker, S. Hermann, J. Kane, L. Anderson, M. Smith, K. Robertson. 2021. Unpublished species list of Wade Tract old-growth longleaf pine savanna, Thomasville, Georgia.