Acalypha gracilens A.Gray

Stem erect, simple or branched from near the base, 2–5 dm, pubescent with incurved hairs; petioles about a fourth as long as the blades and usually shorter than the bracts they subtend; blades nearly linear to oblong or narrowly elliptic, 2–5 cm, obscurely crenate to entire; pistillate bracts usually arcuate-recurved, 5–10 mm, shallowly lobed into 9–15 deltoid or ovate, usually glandular segments; staminate spike mostly 5–15 mm, usually conspicuously exceeding the bracts; seeds 3 (except in var. monococca), 1.5–2 mm; 2n=40. Moist or dry, sandy soil, open woods, fields, and meadows; Me. to Wis., s. to Fla. and Tex. Many southern plants (n. to s. Ill.) have more elongate staminate spikes, to 3 or 4 cm, and have been distinguished as var. fraseri (Müll. Arg.) Weath. The Ozarkian var. monococca Engelm., differing from var. gracilens in its one-seeded fruits, extends n. to Mo. and s. Ill. (A. monococca)