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Pilea microphylla

Kiona Topa (MK)

Artillery Plant

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves and flowers	66KB
Image:	Leaves and flowers	61KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Artillery Plant, Pistol Plant, Gunpowder Plant, Rockweed

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Kiona Topa (MK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Florida - Mexico - Brazil

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands - valley floors

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental leaves; Weed - minor

KEY FEATURES: A fleshy, creeping herb, 50cm long. LEAVES crowded throughout the stems, very unequal pairs, 1-nerved, oval to 10mm long; STIPULES to 1mm; PET to 4mm. FLOWERS axillary cluster, minute, unisexual; anthers eject pollen explosively, hence Artillery Plant. ACHENE ovoid, 1mm long.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	++?		++	P	-

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 microphylla Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Pilea muscosa

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

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Pilea microphylla.

References:
p.1306 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.317 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.872 Hortus 3rd
p.912 Tropica
p.2/237 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

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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