''Hexasepalum teres'' is a species of flowering plant in the
coffee family known by the common names poorjoe and rough buttonweed. This annual plant is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...
and the United States from
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
and from
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...
to
. The species is also naturalized in the Netherlands, the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...
, Western Africa, Angola, China, Japan and Korea,
India, and Madagascar.
''Hexasepalum teres'' has a thin, erect or prostrate stem rarely up to in height. It has opposite leaves which are stiff, dark green, elliptical, pointed, and roughly-textured, up to long. Each pair of leaves cradles a flower at its base. The small white to pinkish-purple flower has four stiff petal-like lobes up to long and wide. The fruit is
ellipsoid
An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation.
An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...
, splitting into two
nutlet
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the sh ...
s This plant is most common in sandy areas such as desert dunes and river floodplains.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
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{{Taxonbar, from1=Q5279093, from2=Q80699136
Spermacoceae
Flora of Central America
Flora of the Caribbean
Flora of Southern America
Flora of Mexico
Flora of the United States
Plants described in 1788
Taxa named by John Kunkel Small
Flora without expected TNC conservation status