Alternanthera bettzickiana(Regel) G.Nicholson

WFO wfo-0000528475 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by OnePlanet
fig. a OnePlanet, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-05 / obs. 141146073
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by chiuluan
fig. b chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 84137102
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by OnePlanet
fig. c OnePlanet, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141146105
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by chiuluan
fig. d chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 84137109
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by Shaan Aroeste
fig. e Shaan Aroeste, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176217418
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by Shaan Aroeste
fig. f Shaan Aroeste, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176217525
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by Shaan Aroeste
fig. g Shaan Aroeste, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176217527
Alternanthera bettzickiana, photographed by Shaan Aroeste
fig. h Shaan Aroeste, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176217461

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 5 botanical countries

Regions where Alternanthera bettzickiana is native: Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil South, Ecuador, Peru BoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil SouthEcuadorPeru
Native distribution of Alternanthera bettzickiana, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Brazil South BZS
Ecuador ECU
Peru PER

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 60 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 10.1 °C 16.8 °C 24.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.5 °C 30.0 °C 36.0 °C
Annual rainfall 1,083 mm 2,069 mm 3,427 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 5 mm 93 mm 461 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 60 research-grade observations of Alternanthera bettzickiana that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 39 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Achyranthes bettzickiana (Regel) Standl.
  • Achyranthes picta Passer.
  • Alternanthera amabilis hort. ex Lem.
  • Alternanthera amabilis var. tricolor Linden & André
  • Alternanthera amoena (Lem.) Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. amabilis (Lem.) Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. reinhardii Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. rosea Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. sessilis Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. spectabilis Voss
  • Alternanthera amoena f. typica Voss
  • Alternanthera articulata O.Stützer
  • Alternanthera articulata f. capitellata O.Stützer
  • Alternanthera articulata f. capitulifera O.Stützer
  • Alternanthera articulata var. minuta O.Stützer
  • Alternanthera bettzickiana f. aurea Voss
  • Alternanthera bettzickiana f. kurzii Voss
  • Alternanthera bettzickiana f. spathulata (Lem.) Voss
  • Alternanthera bettzickiana var. spathulata (Lem.) Seub.
  • Alternanthera coerilis hort.
  • Alternanthera cyclophylla (Seub.) Schinz
  • Alternanthera ficoidea var. amoena (Lem.) L.B.Sm. & Downs
  • Alternanthera ficoidea var. bettzickiana (Regel) Backer
  • Alternanthera ficoidea var. spathulata (Lem.) L.B.Sm. & Downs

and 15 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.