Iresine is a genus of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the amaranth

Amaranth

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

, Amaranthaceae

Amaranthaceae

The flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth family, contains about 176 genera and 2,400 species.- Description :Most of these species are herbs or subshrubs; very few are trees or climbers. Some species are succulent....

. It contains 20 to 25 species, all of which are native to the American

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

 tropics

Tropics

The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately  N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at  S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...

. The generic name is derived from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 word εριος (erios), meaning "wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

y", referring to the trichome

Trichome

Trichomes are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and certain protists. These are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae.- Algal trichomes :...

-covered flowers. Bloodleaf is a common name for those species that have colored foliage, and these are often cultivated as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s. Some species are additives to versions of the hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

.

Selected species

• Iresine angustifolia Euph. – White Snowplant
• Iresine argentata (Mart.) D.Dietr. – Tropical Bloodleaf
• Iresine diffusa Humb. et Bonpl. ex Willd. (= Iresine celosia, Iresine celosioides, Iresine canescens, Iresine paniculata (L.) Kuntze, Iresine elongata) – Juba's Bush
  • Iresine diffusa f. lindenii (=Iresine lindenii Humb. & Bonpl.)
• Iresine elatior
• Iresine flavescens Humb. et Bonpl. ex Willd. – Yellow Bloodleaf
• Iresine grandiflora
• Iresine herbstii
  Iresine herbstii
  Iresine herbstii is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae.-References:*C Nencini, F Cavallo, G Bruni, A Capasso, V De Feo, . Affinity of Iresine herbstii and Brugmansia arborea extracts on different cerebral receptors, Journal of Ethnopharmacology....
  
  Hook. ex Lindl. – Herbst's Bloodleaf
• Iresine heterophylla Standl. – Standley's Bloodleaf
• Iresine keyensis
• Iresine leptoclada (Hook.f.) Henrickson et Sundberg – Texas shrub
• Iresine macrophylla R.E.Fr. (= Cruzeta
  Cruzeta
  Cruzeta is a town and municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in the Northeast region of Brazil.-References:...
  
   celosioides (L.) M.Gómez, Celosia
  Celosia
  Celosia is a small genus of edible and ornamental plants in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word κηλος , meaning "burned," and refers to the flame-like flower heads. Species are commonly known as woolflowers, or, if the flower heads are crested by...
  
   paniculata L., Iresine celosioides L.)
• Iresine palmeri (S.Watson) Standl. – Palmer's Bloodleaf
• Iresine pedicellata
  Iresine pedicellata
  Iresine pedicellata is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.-Source:...
  
  Eliasson (Ecuador
  Ecuador
  Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
  
  )
• Iresine polymorpha Mart.
• Iresine rhizomatosa Standl. – Rootstock Bloodleaf

Formerly placed here

• Pfaffia glomerata
  Pfaffia glomerata
  Pfaffia glomerata is an medicinal plant native to Argentina, Bolivia, Cerrado, and Pantanal vegetation in Brazil.-See also:* List of plants of Cerrado vegetation of Brazil* List of plants of Pantanal vegetation of Brazil...
  
  (A.Spreng.) Pedersen (as I. glomerata A.Spreng.)
• Aerva javanica
  Aerva javanica
  Aerva javanica is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae family. It has a native distribution from Northern Africa to south western regions of Western Asia....
  
  (Burm.f.) Juss. ex Schult. (as I. javanica Burm.f. or I. persica Burm.f.)