Alternanthera gracilis (Mart. & Gal.) Loes.

Achyranthes gracilis (Mart. & Gal.) Standley, Jour. Wash
Acad. Sci. 5: 74. 1915.
Gomphrena gracilis Mart. & Gal. Bull. Acad. Brux. 10 1 : 350. 1843. Telanthera gracilis Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 375. 1849.
Plants erect, clambering over shrubs, or sometimes procumbent, suffruticose below; stems 5-30 dm. long, much branched, the branches ascending or spreading, striate, strigillose or glabrate; petioles slender, 3-15 mm. long; leaf -blades ovate-oblong to broadly ovate or oval, 4—9 cm. long, 1.2-4 cm. wide, acute to acuminate at the apex, obtuse or acute at the base, bright-green, sparsely appressed-pubescent or glabrous; peduncles terminal and axillary, usually trichotomous, 1-5 cm. long, pilose-strigose or glabrate; spikes globose, solitary or glomerate, 10-12 mm. in diameter, the flowers white or slightly stramineous; bracts and bract-, lets broadly ovate, acute, mucronulate, one third to one half as long as the sepals, shortvillous ; sepals oblong-linear, 5 mm. long, acutish, subcartilaginous, obscurely 3-nerved, short-pilose, the tips spreading; staminodia ligulate, exceeding the anthers and slightly shorter than the sepals, lacerate at the apex; style evident, the stigmas entire; seed subglobose, 1 mm, long, black and shining.
Type locality: In the ravine of Acasonica, Vera Cruz. Distribution: Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz.