Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Montane scrubland
Range: South America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

This sprawling herb grows along the damp, shaded banks of tropical streams. Its stems can spontaneously sprout roots wherever they touch the wet soil to clone itself.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Alternanthera
Species: Alternanthera porrigens