# rough buttonweed

*Hexasepalum teres*

Its seeds have a tiny, nutrient-rich structure called an elaiosome, which coaxes ants into carrying the seeds underground, effectively planting them.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Gentianales › Rubiaceae › Hexasepalum
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Dry sandy soils, old fields, coastal dunes, roadsides, pine barrens, and disturbed open areas.
- **Diet:** Autotrophic (produces energy via photosynthesis using sunlight, water, and soil nutrients).
- **Range:** North America, Central America, South America
- **Size:** Sprawling stems 10 to 80 cm long, forming low-growing mats.
- **Lifespan:** 1 year (annual)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss to intensive agriculture, over-shading by invasive canopy plants, and excessive herbicide use in managed landscapes.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. You can safely observe or touch this plant. Its stems are covered in stiff, rough hairs that may feel slightly scratchy to the touch, but it is entirely non-toxic and poses no danger to humans or pets.

## About

Hexasepalum teres is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names poorjoe and rough buttonweed . This annual plant is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies and the United States from California to Florida and from Kansas to Massachusetts. The species is also naturalized in the Netherlands, the Canary Islands, Western Africa, Angola, China, Japan and Korea, India, and Madagascar.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/9bdfa48a-7613-41d6-bb56-e6628a690ce5
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/787459
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexasepalum_teres
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/353199751/medium.jpeg (Michael J. Papay, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.