• Family : URTICACEAE
  (Nettle Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BICHCHHOO FAMILY (बिच्छू फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : URTICACEAE
• Basionym : Parietaria microphylla L.
• Synonym(s) : Pilea muscosa (L.) Lindl.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Pilea microphylla (L.) Liebm.
• Common name : Artillery Gun Plant, Gunpowder plant, Rockweed
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Weed in gardens
• Comments / notes : Often on hills to about 1000m or more in stone walls, rock crevices, gardens and as a weed in pots.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Kolar district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Odisha : Throughout Odisha
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• Native : South America
• World Distribution : Introduced in most parts of the world.
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1987). Flora of Tamilnadu, India vol. 2.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pilea microphylla. Downloaded on 3 July 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)