Diodella teres

Diodella teres is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names poorjoe and rough buttonweed. This annual plant is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies and the southern of the United States from California to Florida as well as much of the central and northeastern United States from Kansas to Michigan to Massachusetts.[1] The species is also naturalized in the Netherlands, the Canary Islands, Western Africa, Angola, China, Japan and Korea,[2] India, and Madagascar.[3]

Diodella teres
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Diodella
Species:
D. teres
Binomial name
Diodella teres
(Walter) Small
Synonyms
  • Borreria shandongensis F.Z.Li & X.D.Chen
  • Diodia prostrata Sw.
  • Diodia prostrata var. longiseta DC.
  • Diodia teres Walter
  • Endopogon pumilum Raf.
  • Spermacoce diodina Michx.
  • Spermacoce linearis Sessé & Moc.
  • Spermacoce shandongensis (F.Z.Li & X.D.Chen) Govaerts
  • Spermacoce strigosa L.

Diodella teres has a thin, erect or prostrate stem rarely up to 65 cm in height. It has opposite leaves which are stiff, dark green, elliptical, pointed, and roughly-textured, up to 3 cm long. Each pair of leaves cradles a flower at its base. The small white to pinkish-purple flower has four stiff petal-like lobes up to 12 mm long and 10 mm wide. The fruit is ellipsoid, splitting into two nutlets This plant is most common in sandy areas such as desert dunes and river floodplains.[2][4]

References
  1. USDA Plants Database
  2. "Yi-Ding Gao, Rui-Jiang Wang & Ching-I Peng. 2010. Diodia teres Walt. (Rubiaceae), a Newly Recorded Weed in Fujian. Taiwania 55 (2): 177-179" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-04. Retrieved 2014-05-03.
  3. Invasive Species Compendium, Diodella teres
  4. Small, John Kunkel & Carter, Joel Jackson. 1913. Flora of Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) 271.
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