Nothosaerva brachiata (L.) Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 6: 1 1853. (syn. Achyranthes brachiata L.; Aerva brachiata (L.) Mart.; Aerva chenopodiifolia Bojer; Alternanthera brachiata Hort. ex Moq.; Amaranthus minutus Lesch. ex Moq.; Illecebrum brachiatum (L.) L.; Nothosaerua brachiata (L.) Baill.; Pseudanthus brachiatus (L.) Wight);

Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Sudan, South Sudan, Benin, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal), +Mauritius, India (N- & peninsular India, Upper Gangetic Plains), Pakistan (Sind, Karachi, Pakistani Punjab, Lahore), Sri Lanka, Myanmar [Burma], Saudi Arabia, SE-Borneo, Maldives as per

Common name: Minute Amaranth

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Profusely branched herbs, rootstocks woody. Leaves opposite, to 2.5 x 1 cm, elliptic or obovate, apex obtuse, base cuneate, membranous, glabrous; petiole indistinct. Spikes many, axillary, solitary or in clusters, white, to 5 mm; peduncles to 1 cm, bracts and bracteoles ovate, pubescent; tepals 4, 0.8 mm, ovate, pubescent outside; stamens 2, to 0.5 mm; ovary 0.5 mm, ovoid, style minute, stigma capitate. Utricle 0.5 mm, enclosed in perianth lobes, obovoid, membranous; seeds globose, chestnut brown, shining.

Dry deciduous forests

(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)

Nothosaerva brachiata for validation : Attachments (3).  8 posts by 5 authors.  

This small bushy herb seen today on the edge of a field.
Is it Nothosaerva brachiata?  Please validate.

I think it is Aerva lanata (Amaranthaceae)... hope I am not wrong. 

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Thank you ... and ...n for your replies.
I think Aerva lanata has flowers which are more sparse along the stems and doesn't have this bushy habit with short branches. Also it is very common.
When I first noticed this posted plant it looked like something quite new to me and unusual in my area.

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Thanks ... for querying about this plant and thank you very much ... for validating. I will need to correct my notes in flickr.

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I have a doubt that it is Aerva sanguinolenta.
I feel that the habit does not match the plant I saw. This small plant had very short branches, becoming shorter towards the top. It had nothing of a rambling habit at all. In addition it was in a wet location. I have seen Aerva sanguinolenta in very dry habitats.

See if this illustration from FoC helps ...

this one looks like Nothosaerva brachiata

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Yes ..., thank you very much for validating this ID. I will need to revise my notes in flickr. All of my sightings are of Nothosaerva brachiata. Now keen to find and know Aerva lanata.

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Yes, appears to be Nothosaerva brachiata only as per images, details and references herein.

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Nothosaerva brachiata 

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an amaranthaceae member

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Verified ?

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not yet

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I agree with ... id as Nothosaerva brachiata as per images, details and references herein.

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