Gomphrena globosa L.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Equisetopsida C. Agardh > Caryophyllales Juss. ex Bercht. & J. Presl > Amaranthaceae > Gomphrena > Gomphrena globosa L.

Description: Herbs, annual, erect, 20-60 cm tall. Stem stout, branched; branches slightly quadrangular, gray strigose, slightly inflated at nodes. Petiole gray hairy; leaf blade oblong or oblong-obovate, papery, long white hairy and ciliate, narrowing toward base, margin undulate, apex acute or obtuse. Heads terminal, usually purple, sometimes light purple or white. Bracts 2, opposite, green, ovate or cordate, gray hairy; bracts white, purple at apex, ovate, bracteoles purple, triangular-lanceolate, much longer than bracts. Tepals not rigid after anthesis, lanceolate, outside densely white lanose, apex acuminate. Filaments connate into a tube, 5-parted at apex. Styles linear, shorter than tube of stamens; stigmas 2, furcate. Utricles subglobose. Seeds brown, shiny, reniform.

Flowering and Fruiting: June - September

Uses: Used for food security, phytoremediation and crop rotation systems in arsenic-contaminated agricultural soils

Cultivation: Cultivated as an ornamental

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org