Tropical Bloodleaf

Iresine argentata (Mart.) D. Dietr. Syn. PI. 1: 870. 1839
Trommsdorffia argentata Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 41. 1826.
Achyrantkes nodosa Bertero; Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 41, as synonym. 1826.
Alternanthera argentata Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 352. 1849.
Erect or scandent shrub, much branched, the branches stout or slender, terete, smooth, glabrate, the young branches and those of the inflorescence densely pubescent with short, stout, soft, appressed or ascending hairs; petioles stout, 2-8 mm. long; leaf -blades oblong-oval to broadly oval or rounded-ovate, 6-12 cm. long, 3.5-6 cm. wide, acute or usually abruptly acute at the apex, rounded at the base, subcoriaceous, glabrous, or sparsely canescent when young; flowers perfect, in pyramidal or elongate, terminal or axillary panicles, the branches spreading, opposite or verticillate; spikelets short, sessile or pedunculate, their rachises canescent; bracts and bractlets one third as long as the flowers, orbicular-ovate, obtuse or acutish, densely short-villous; sepals elliptic-oblong, acutish, 2 mm. long, subfuscous, faintly 3-nerved, densely pilose, the hairs stiff, brownishwhite, scarcely exceeding the sepals ; filaments filiform, the staminodia short, obtuse, entire; style very short, the stigmas short and stout.
Type locality: Porto Rico.
Distribution: In thickets, Porto Rico; apparently also in Colombia and Venezuela.