Alternanthera pungens
ζ*A. pungens Kunth ζ*, khaki weed, has been collected once in a turnip crop at Silverdale, N. Auckland, but is otherwise unknown in N.Z. A much-branched herb; fl. heads sessile, axillary, ovoid-oblong, up to c. 1.25 cm long; bracts 4-4.5 mm long, ovate-lanceolate with subulate spiny apex; bracteoles scarcely spiny; tepals very unequal, with glochidiate hair tufts on margins, the larger tepals with subulate spiny apex. The sp. is more widely known as A. repens (L.) Link. (Tropical America, 1966).
