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Acalypha (a name given by Hippocrates to a nettle). Euphorbiaceae. Copper-leaf. Three-seeded Mercury. Brilliant tender foliage shrubs or herbs much used for greenhouse ornament, and especially for bedding-out; and in Florida and southward for lawn shrubs and hedges.
The acalyphas are erect shrubs or, in the native species, rather weedy herbs, with alternate stipulate lvs: fls. in spikes or spike-like racemes, the staminate cluster peduncled, each fl. in the axil of a minute bractlet, with a 4-parted calyx and 8-16 stamens; pistillate fls. subtended by a foliaceous bractlet, the calyx 3-5 parted; petals wanting in both kinds of fls., the long spike-like ament being the showy part of the fls.: fr. usually of 3-2-valved carpels, each 1-seeded.
For bedding, it is desirable to have strong, well- hardened plants in 4-inch pots, which should be set out the last week in May, and grown in a rich, moist soil without check. The leading horticultural species is A. hispida. The main point in the cultivation of this species is that it can be grown either to a single stem or in a spreading bush form, both of which ways are effective. Stock plants of acalypha do well in a mixture of three parts loam, one part well-decomposed manure, and, if the loam is heavy, also some sharp sand. In central Florida, none of the acalyphas is quite hardy. They should be banked late in the fall with dry sand, which must be removed when all danger of frost is over.
Propagation is by cuttings, chiefly in three ways: (1) in fall from outdoor bedded plants; (2) from plants lifted in fall, cut back, and kept for spring stock; (3) from stock plants in pots reserved from the previous season. The well-ripened wood of these last is a great advantage, and gives cuttings that may be taken with a heel. A mature stem will furnish several beside the top one. This is the best method for general purposes. Cuttings may also be taken below the joints when the shoots are half mature. The cuttings require mild bottom heat. For greenhouse ornament in fall and winter, excellent specimens may be secured from cuttings made in summer from such stock plants.
The acalyphas are subject to mealy-bug, scale and red-spider. For the first two, fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas. The red-spider can be kept in check by syringing or spraying.
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[[Category:Euphorbiaceae]]
[[Category:Euphorbiaceae]]
[[Category:Pantropical flora]]
[[Category:Pantropical flora]]
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