Amaranthus cruentus |
Amaranthus palmeri |
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blood amaranth, caterpillar amaranth, purple amaranth, red amaranth |
carelessweed, Palmer's amara nth, Palmer's pigweed |
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Habit | Plants almost glabrous or slightly pubescent distally, especially when young. | Plants glabrous or nearly so. |
Stems | erect, green or reddish purple, branched distally, mostly in inflorescence, to nearly simple, 0.4–2 m. Leaves: petiole 1/2 as long as to ± equaling blade; blade rhombic-ovate or ovate to broadly lanceolate, 3–15(–20) × 1.5–10(–15) cm, occasionally larger in robust plants, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margins entire, plane, apex acute or subobtuse to slightly emarginate, with mucro. |
erect, branched, usually (0.3–)0.5–1.5(–3) m; proximal branches often ascending. |
Leaves | long-petiolate; blade obovate or rhombic-obovate to elliptic proximally, sometimes lanceolate distally, 1.5–7 × 1–3.5 cm, base broadly to narrowly cuneate, margins entire, plane, apex subobtuse to acute, usually with terminal mucro. |
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Bracts | narrowly spathulate, 2–3 mm, equaling or slightly longer than tepals, apex short-spinescent. |
of pistillate flowers with long-excurrent midrib, 4–6 mm, longer than tepals, apex acuminate or mucronulate; of staminate flowers, 4 mm, equaling or longer than outer tepals, apex long-acuminate. |
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary, erect, reflexed, or nodding, usually dark red, purple, or deep beet-red, less commonly almost green or greenish red, leafless at least distally, large and robust. |
terminal, linear spikes to panicles, usually drooping, occasionally erect, especially when young, with few axillary clusters, uninterrupted or interrupted in proximal part of plant. |
Staminate flowers | at tips of inflorescences; tepals 5; stamens (4–)5. |
tepals 5, unequal, 2–4 mm, apex acute; inner tepals with prominent midrib excurrent as rigid spine, apex long-acuminate or mucronulate; stamens 5. |
Pistillate flowers | tepals 5, oblong to lanceolate, not clawed, equal or subequal, 1.5–3 mm, apex acute; style branches erect or slightly reflexed; stigmas 3. |
tepals 1.7–3.8 mm, apex acuminate, mucronulate; style branches spreading; stigmas 2(–3). |
Seeds | usually white or ivory, with reddish or yellowish tint, sometimes dark brown to dark reddish brown, broadly lenticular to elliptic-lenticular, 1.2–1.6 mm diam., smooth or indistinctly punctate. |
dark reddish brown to brown, 1–1.2 mm diam., shiny. |
Utricles | obovoid to elongate-obovoid, 2–2.5 mm, smooth or slightly rugose distally, dehiscence regularly circumscissile. |
tan to brown, occasionally reddish brown, obovoid to subglobose, 1.5–2 mm, shorter than tepals, at maturity walls thin, almost smooth or indistinctly rugose. |
Amaranthus cruentus |
Amaranthus palmeri |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | Flowering summer–fall, occasionally spring–winter in southern part of its native range. |
Habitat | Near places of cultivation | Streambanks, disturbed habitats, especially agricultural fields, railroads, waste areas, roadsides |
Elevation | 100-1000 m (300-3300 ft) | |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CT; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; UT; VT; WA; WI; WV; Central America; South America; cultivated widely
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AR; AZ; CA; CO; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WI; WV; ON; Mexico [Introduced Europe, Asia, and Australia]
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Discussion | Amaranthus cruentus is cultivated as ornamental and pseudocereal almost worldwide from tropical to warm-temperate regions. While reported as naturalized in several states, most specimens identified as this species are referable to A. hybridus or other native species. Escaped plants of A. cruentus sometimes occur near places of cultivation (see note under A. caudatus). No attempt has been made to summarize distribution data for such escapes. Amaranthus cruentus originated from A. hybridus (most probably in cultivation in Central America), with which it shares almost all major morphologic characteristics. Inclusion of cultivated forms in A. hybridus in a broad sense is thus rather justified. Cultivated species traditionally have been treated as separate taxa in horticultural and agricultural literature, and we prefer to maintain the current convenient usage of these names. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Originally native to the North American Southwest, from southern California to Texas and northern Mexico, Amaranthus palmeri at present is a successful invasive species, which is evident from its expansion both in eastern North America and overseas. Because of its rapid spread, the distribution data presented here are probably incomplete. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 418. |
Parent taxa | Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > subg. Amaranthus | Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > subg. Acnida > sect. Saueranthus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. hybridus subsp. cruentus | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1269. (1759) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 274. (1877) |
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