Acalypha (Euphorbiaceae Acalyphoideae) is a large, monophyletic genus distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few species extending into temperate Asia and North America. We reconstructed phylogenetic relationships within the genus using DNA sequences from the plastid ndhF and trnL-F regions and the nuclear ribosomal ITS region, sampling 143 species to represent the geographic, morphologic, and taxonomic diversity with the genus, resulting in a 162 (158 in Acalypha) terminal and 3847 character combined...