Decumbent, sprawling perennial herb; stems branching, to ca 1 m long; stems velutinous above and on nodes below, the trichomes antrorsely hispidulous. Leaves opposite; petioles 2-10 mm long; blades broadly ovate to elliptic or obovate, acute and mucronulate at apex, cuneate at base, to 6 cm long and 3 cm wide, villous when young, becoming sparsely villous to glabrate. Inflorescences of sessile, whitish, axillary, ovoid or globose tufts to 1 cm long; bracts and bracteoles +/- equal, +/- ovate, to 3 mm long, acuminate; flowers bisexual; sepals 5, similar to bracts but the outer 3 broader, 3-veined, 3-5 mm long; stamens 5, united below, exceeded by pseudostaminodia; style 2-3 times longer than the single, capitate stigma. Utricles indehiscent, suborbicular, membranaceous, to 1.5 mm long, shorter than sepals; seeds reddish-brown, to 1.2 mm long. Croat 9240. Abundant in the Laboratory Clearing, usually growing over and supported by other low vegetation. Flowers and fruits all year though probably with a peak of activity in the dry season. BCI plants apparently intergrade with A. halimifolia (Lam.) Standl., as they show characters intermediate with that species, especially the moderate to dense, plumose pubescence. Florida and central Mexico south to Paraguay; West Indies. In Panama, an occasional weed growing in clearings and along streams; known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui, Veraguas, Panama, and Darien, from premontane moist forest in the Canal Zone, from premontane wet forest in Coclé, and from tropical wet forest in Colón. See Fig. 224.