Rhombic Copperleaf, Three-Seeded Mercury

Acalypha rhomboidea

Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family)

▲ ▼ seedlings

▲ ▼ young plants

▲ ▼ mature plants

▲ ▼ flowering stems

▲ ▼ flowering stems

ing stem

▲ ▼ flower bracts

▲ stem showing upward-bent hairs

▲  mature plant leaves

Rhombic Copperleaf: 

·        summer annual, growing 6-24” tall with upright, often much-branched stems

·        leaves are elongated to lanceolate, usually staying green, with coppery accents in full sun, or late in summer

·        inflorescence in small clusters in the axils of the leaves, with fringed, leafy bracts between/around flowers

·        does not have milky sap

·        is very similar to Virginia copperleaf (Acalypha virginiana), except rhombic copperleaf has fewer lobes on its flower bracts, and often remains mostly green, with copper accents, toward the end of the growing season

·        does not have irritating hairs as does hophornbeam copperleaf