Acalypha pendula C.Wright ex Griseb.


Family: EUPHORBIACEAE
Sub-Family: Not available
English Name: Fire Tail Plant
Synonym: Acalypha chamaedrifolia var.pendula(C.WrightexGriseb.)Müll.Arg.
Common Name: Dwarf Chenille Plant
Flowering & Fruiting Period: Summer
Distribution: Native to the South Pacific (New Guinea and the Malay Archipelago)
Habitat: Grown as ornamental plant
Uses: Ornamental
Key Characteristics: This evergreen plant can grow to 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Large, bright green heart-shaped leaves with toothed margins are produced on sparsely branched upright to arching stems.This plant is dioecious, producing male and female flowers on different plants. The soft and fuzzy pendulous female inflorescences are typically crimson red. The flowers themselves are very small, mostly just feathery pistils, but are tightly packed along the raceme to form the furry catkin. These catkins that arise from the leaf axils are very long-lasting, gradually fading and browning as they age, but regular dead-heading the spent flowers will encourage more blooms. Flowers are produced any time of the year when temperatures are warm enough (year round in tropical climates). The male flowers are not showy, so the plants offered as ornamentals are all females.