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Alternanthera brasiliana
Also called Ruby Leaf, Purple Joyweed
In Singapore: Brazilian Joyweed, Purple Joyweed (Grown in Singapore)
Brazilian joyweed is a fast-growing, sprawling herbaceous shrub-like plant in the amaranth family, grown for its purple-speckled, reddish-purple leaves. It thrives in full sun and moist, well-drained soil, and is easy to root from cuttings.
Alternanthera brasiliana, also known as large purple alternanthera, metal weed, bloodleaf, parrot leaf, ruby leaf, Brazilian joyweed, purple alternanthera, purple joyweed, is a flowering plant of the amaranth family that is native to the forests of South America and as well as Central America, ranging from northeastern Mexico to northeastern Argentina. It is grown as an ornamental plant.
Alternanthera brasiliana var. villosa, a variety known as little ruby or ruby leaf alternanthera, is also known by the synonym Alternanthera dentata.
It is used as an ornamental plant with many cultivars, such as 'Purple Prince' and 'Little Ruby' (used for the Alternanthera brasiliana var. villosa cultivars). It is often harvested from the wild for regional use as a food and medicine, where it is used as an antiviral and anti-diarrhoea agent. It grows in full sun in moist, well drained soils, where it will multiply by self-seeding. It can also be easily propagated by cuttings.
The plant is native to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guyanas, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, northeastern Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, and the Windward Islands.
Calico Plant · Alternanthera brasiliana var. villosa · Sanguinaria · Alternanthera helleri · Alligatorweed · Scarlet Temple · Sessile joyweed
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alternanthera brasiliana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
