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Strobilanthes alternata

(Burm.f.) Moylan ex J.R.I.Wood (2014)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Lamiales Family: Acanthaceae Genus: Strobilanthes

metal leaf, metal-leaf, metallic plant, red flame, red flame ivy, red ivy, red-flame

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Perennial herbs.

Stems: Procumbent, 3–8 dm long.

Roots: Often rooting at the nodes.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite and decussate (pairs of leaves alternating 90 degrees between nodes). Blades cordate, 3.5–15 cm long, 1.6–6 cm wide. Base cordate. Surfaces sparsely hispidulous, the hairs multicellular; green to purple–tinged or dark purple, especially on lower surface. Margins crenulate. Petioles 1.5–3 cm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in racemes. Flowers bisexual (perfect), subtended by greenish purple to dark purple ovate bracts 7–12 mm long, pedicels 2 mm long. Calyx 5-lobed, the lobes linear; 7–10 mm long. Corolla of 5 petals, White with purple veins, ca. 15 mm long, tubular, the lobes spreading. Stamens 4, in pairs, inserted on the corolla alternate with the lobes, sometimes 1 or more reduced to staminodes; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 2-carpellate; ovule placentation axile; style filiform, simple.

Fruit: Capsules with two cells; usually dehiscing explosively; narrowly ellipsoid. Seeds 6–12; On small hooked stalks (modified funiculus) that ejects the seeds from the capsule; embryos usually large; endosperm absent.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Naturalized in lawns.

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Only found in cultivation

Island Status

O'ahu Only found in cultivation

Dispersal Agents


Vegetative Reproduction

Pollinators

Notes

  • Description digitized by Pumehana Imada
  • Plants sterile with no capsules formed. Native range unknown, but probably originally from Malesia; in Hawai‘i cultivated as a ground cover, it is propagated vegetatively and sometimes spreads in lawns.

Bibliography

Name Published In: Novon 23: 389 (2014)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:171 (O [as Hemigraphis alternata]); Staples & Herbst 2005:85 (DESCR); Wood 2014:389 (Syn. H alternata = S. alternata); Faccenda, Arthur, et al. 2025:150 (exclude from checklist, no evidence of nat.)

Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R., & Sohmer, S. H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i, Vols. 1 and 2 (No. Edn 2). University of Hawai'i and Bishop Museum Press.

Staples, G., & Herbst, D. R. (2005). A Tropical Garden Flora. Bishop Museum Press.

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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