COMMON NAMES: Red-hot Cat's-tail, Chenille Plant [chenille (Eng.) = soft tufted cord; chenille (Fr.) = caterpillar, from L. canula for small dog]; German Rauhe Nesselblatt, Katzenschwanz; French Queue de chat, Chenille

TRADITIONAL NAMES: ‘Iku Kiore-ngiao / ‘Aere-Mīmī (RR), ‘Uku Kiore / ‘Uku Kiāo (MG), Mīmī (AT), ‘Ērō Mīmī / ‘Iku Ngiāo (MK), ‘Ara Mīmī (MT), ‘Iku Ngiāo (AK), Monkey-tail (PL); Other Polynesian - Si‘isi‘u Pusi (SAM), Aero Mimi (TAH); COMMENT: Mauke: Mīmī early name for cat based on imitiation of sound, ‘Ero = Tahitian for tail.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Indonesia or w.Melanesia

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

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental flowers

KEY FEATURES: Shrub to 3m. LEAVES alternate, wide-ovate, 20x15cm, green, edge teeth low, hairs short and rare but common on underside of veins; stalk 12cm. FLOWERS female only forming long furry spike, to 50x2cm, red or off-white; flowers in clusters ~6, rarely singular, each with filamentous branching style to 1cm. cv. 'Alba' differs in having greenish-white flowers and in having narrower leaves with a long-tapering base and ± tapering tip ['Alba' det. Wilder 1932 and J.Florence 1994 BPBM]. [Note: pale flowered plant with similar leaves to the red Acalypha hispida and male flowers is an undetermined species - GM 4/2004]

SIMILAR SPECIES: Love-lies-bleeding or Tassel Flower (Amaranthus caudatus, not yet recorded in the Cook Islands) has similar cat's-tail-like flowers (red or vivid green), but it has stem red to purple (vs green); leaves hairy beneath and on edges (vs. sparsely haired).