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Pilea depressa

Baby's-tears

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Baby's-tears

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Caribbean

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands, gardens

KEY FEATURES: Creeping herb. STEMS slender, rooting at nodes. LEAVES opposite, ~round, to 2cm, surface ~smooth, tip with round teeth. FLOWERS axillary clusters, minute.

SIMILAR SPECIES: See under Creeping Charlie (Pilea nummularifolia)

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Pilea depressa (Swartz)
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); HAMAMELIDAE; Urticales; URTICACEAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Creeping herb. STEM slender, weak, rooting at nodes. LEAVES opposite, wide-oval to round, to 20mm, outer section with round teeth; stalk to 15mm. FLOWERS green and minute in axillary clusters.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: fieldsight, Taripo garden, Nikao, 8/2000, W.Sykes.

References:
p.872 Hortus 3rd
p.912 Tropica

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB03a, zM03a, zD03a,

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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