''Stachytarpheta mutabilis'' is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family known by the common names changeable velvetberry,''Stachytarpheta mutabilis''.
USDA Plants Profile. coral porterweed, pink snakeweed, red snakeweed, and pink rat tail.
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk. It is native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America. It can't be found in many other places as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived the ...

. It is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

Description

This species is a perennial herb or subshrub generally growing 10 to 20 centimeters tall, sometimes reaching half a meter. The hairy stems have oppositely arranged leaves. The leaf blades are leathery in texture and oblong or lance-shaped. They measure up to 12 centimeters long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

is a narrow spike up to 60 centimeters long. The flowers come in many shades of red and pink. This species sometimes escapes cultivation and becomes established in the wild. It can be weedy, growing in disturbed habitat such as pastures and roadsides. This plant is an introduced

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

in Fiji,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The flowers are attractive to a variety of insects. The butterflies ''

Ornithoptera priamus poseidon ''Ornithoptera priamus'', the common green birdwing, Cape York birdwing, Priam's birdwing, northern birdwing or New Guinea birdwing is a widespread species of birdwing butterfly found in the central and south Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archi ...

'' and ''

Papilio ulysses ''Papilio ulysses'', the Ulysses butterfly (also commonly known as the Blue emperor), is a large swallowtail butterfly of Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Its size varies depending on subspecies, but the wingspa ...

'' have been observed foraging on the plant, as has the bee ''

Amegilla sapiens ''Amegilla'' is a large genus of bees in the tribe Anthophorini. Several species have blue metallic bands on the abdomen, and are referred to as "blue-banded bees" and "digger bees". One of their names in english, "digger bees" is given to them b ...

''.Stone, G. N., et al. (1988)
Thermal effects on activity patterns and behavioural switching in a concourse of foragers on ''Stachytarpheta mutabilis'' (Verbenaceae) in Papua New Guinea.
''Oecologia'' 77(1) 56-63. Parts of the plant contain the

iridoid Iridoids are a type of monoterpenoids in the general form of cyclopentanopyran, found in a wide variety of plants and some animals. They are biosynthetically derived from 8-oxogeranial. Iridoids are typically found in plants as glycosides, m ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycoside ...

ipolamiide, which inhibits insect predation on the plant.Bernays, E. and C. De Luca. (1981)
Insect antifeedant properties of an iridoid glycoside: ipolamiide.
''Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences'' 37(12) 1289-90.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7595918 mutabilis