Clustered pellitory facts for kids

Parietaria praetermissa, also known as the clustered pellitory, is a type of plant. It grows naturally in the southeastern United States. You can find it in states like Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

This plant likes to grow in certain places. It lives in areas called hammocks, which are usually shady, moist forests. It also grows in places where the ground has a lot of lime or chalk. You might see it in disturbed areas too, like empty lots. It usually grows at low elevations, around 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level.

What Does the Clustered Pellitory Look Like?

The clustered pellitory is a plant that lives for only one year. It is an annual plant. It grows low to the ground and spreads out, like a trailing herb.

It can reach a height of about 55 centimeters (22 inches). Its leaves are shaped like an egg (ovate) or like the tip of a spear (lanceolate). Each leaf can grow up to 6.5 centimeters (2.6 inches) long.

How Did This Plant Get Its Name?

For a long time, people thought this plant was a different species. They called it Parietaria floridana. But a scientist named Hinton studied the plants very carefully.

He looked at the original plant specimen that was used to name P. floridana. He found out it was actually a different plant. That plant had been called Parietaria nummularia.

Because of the rules for naming plants, P. nummularia had to be renamed P. floridana. This meant the plant that everyone had been calling P. floridana for years didn't have a proper name yet! So, Hinton gave it a new name: Parietaria praetermissa. This new name helped clear up the confusion.