Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Amaranthaceae > Alternanthera > Alternanthera sessilis
 

Alternanthera sessilis (sessile joyweed)

Synonyms: Achyranthes sessilis; Alternanthera glabra; Gomphrena sessilis

Wikipedia Abstract

Alternanthera sessilis is an aquatic plant known by several common names, including sessile joyweed and dwarf copperleaf. It is used as an aquarium plant. The plant occurs around the world. The leaves are used as a vegetable. Young shoots and leaves are eaten as a vegetable in Southeast Asia. Occasionally it is cultivated for food or for use in herbal medicines. This species is classified as a weed in parts of the southern States of the USA.
View Wikipedia Record: Alternanthera sessilis

Invasive Species

Alternanthera sessilis is a weed that inhabits many areas of the world. It occupies moist areas and can be found from sea level to over 2000m. Alternanthera sessilis is a pest of sugarcane, a weed of rice in tropical areas, and an agricultural weed that invades disturbed wet areas in tropical and subtropical regions. It has been used widely around the world for its medicinal uses, as well as for food. The plant has been readily used for food partly due to its abundance.
View ISSG Record: Alternanthera sessilis

Attributes

Leaf Type [1]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Annual/Perennial
Structure [1]  Herb

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Map Climate Land Use
Archipelago de Colon Biosphere Reserve 34336011 Galapagos Islands, Ecuador  
Central Gulf Coastal Plain Biosphere Reserve 40530 United States  
Kakadu National Park II 4744348 Northern Territory, Australia
Kruger National Park II 4718115 Mpumalanga, South Africa
Mahale Mountains National Park II 398414 Tanzania
Norfolk Island National Park II 1723 Australian external territories, Australia  
Reserva de Biosfera del Chaco   Paraguay        

Predators

Adoxophyes privatana (Appleleaf-curling moth)[3]
Contigaspis cyanogena[4]
Eretmocera impactella[3]
Hypolimnas bolina (Great egg fly butterfly)[3]
Junonia atlites (Gray Pansy)[3]
Junonia lemonias (Lemon Pansy)[3]
Spilosoma strigatula[3]

Distribution

Caribbean; North America; Oceania;

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Photos

Citations

Species recognized by Kartesz J., , ITIS Regional: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System in Catalog of Life 2011
Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935 ♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture ♦ 3HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández ♦ 4Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
Invasive Status provided by Global Invasive Species Database Downloaded on 10 May 2011.
Protected Areas provided by Biological Inventories of the World's Protected Areas in cooperation between the Information Center for the Environment at the University of California, Davis and numerous collaborators.
Images provided by Google Image Search
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Weather provided by NOAA METAR Data Access