FoI
Rough Mexican Clover
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Rough Mexican Clover
aturalized Photo: Huirem Bhabini
Common name: Rough Mexican Clover, Florida pusley
Botanical name: Richardia scabra    Family: Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
Synonyms: Richardsonia scabra, Spermacoce hirsuta

Rough Mexican Clover is an annual herb, native to the American continent, but widely naturalized in tropical world. The root is a taproot and the stem is branched, erect, fleshy, very hairy and 20-50 cms tall. The leaves are also velvety and stalkless, oppositely aranged, entire, oblong or elliptical to lancelike or ovate, 2-4 cm long and 1-1.5 centimeters wide. The inflorescence is a white flower-head subtended by four leaf bracts, two longer than the others. The flowers are perfect, have 5 white petals, and occur in terminal clusters. The calyx is a small whorl consisting of 5 to 6 pointed lobes. The fruit is a capsule divided into 3 to 4 parts and produces flat, obovate seeds.

Identification credit: Navendu Pāgé, S. Kasim Photographed in Imphal & Bangalore.

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