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African amaranth, muricate amaranth

bonebract amaranth, bonebract pigweed

Habit Plants annual or short-lived perennial, glabrous or slightly pubescent near tips. Plants annual, glabrous.
Stems

ascending or prostrate, much-branched from stout rootstock, 0.1–0.4 m.

ascending to prostrate, erect when young, or main stems ± erect, branched proximally, 0.1–0.6 m.

Leaves

petiole to 1/2 as long as blade;

blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–8 × 0.2–0.5(–1) mm, base tapering, margins entire, plane to undulate, apex obtuse and often emarginate.

petiole equaling or 1/2 as long as blade;

blade elliptic, oblanceolate to lanceolate, (0.5–)1–3(–3.5) × 0.3–2 cm, base tapering, margins entire, plane to slightly undulate, apex broadly rounded or emarginate.

Bracts

of pistillate flowers linear, 0.7–1.2 mm, 1/2–2/3 as long as tepals.

of pistillate flowers keeled (only A. scleropoides and A. crassipes have keeled bracts), ovate-triangular, minute.

Inflorescences

terminal, compact pyramidal panicles and axillary glomerules, erect or reflexed, green, leafless at least distally.

axillary clusters borne from base to top, axes thickened and inflated, becoming indurate at maturity (only in A. scleropoides and A. crassipes).

Staminate flowers

intermixed with pistillate or at tips of inflorescences;

tepals 5;

stamens 5.

intermixed with pistillate;

tepals 5, membranaceous;

stamens 3.

Pistillate flowers

tepals 5, narrowly oblanceolate, not clawed, equal, 1.5–2 mm, apex obtuse or subacute;

style branches erect;

stigmas 3.

tepals 5, narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, with expanded blade, equal or subequal, (1.2–)1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute to apiculate;

claws indurate at maturity;

style branches spreading;

stigmas 2–3.

Seeds

black, lenticular, 1–1.2 mm diam., semiglossy.

dark brownish black to black, compressed-ovoid to broadly lenticular, 0.9–1.1 mm diam., shiny.

Utricles

compressed, subglobose, 1.7–2 mm, ± equaling or slightly exceeding tepals, muricate, indehiscent.

orbicular to compressed-obovoid, 1.1–1.5 mm, shorter than tepals, smooth to tuberculate in distal 1/2, dehiscence regularly circumscissile.

Amaranthus muricatus

Amaranthus scleropoides

Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Waste places, on ballast Seasonally wet, disturbed habitats
Elevation 0 m (0 ft) 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; s South America (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay) [Introduced in North America; introduced in s Europe, s Africa, Australia, and other regions]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
OK; TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The vernacular name “African amaranth” is sometimes used for this species; it is a misnomer; the species is native to South America and naturalized in Africa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

A hybrid between Amaranthus crassipes and A. scleropoides was recently described as A. ×texensis Henrickson and reported from southeastern Texas (J. Henrickson 1999).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 431. FNA vol. 4, p. 433.
Parent taxa Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > subg. Albersia Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > subg. Albersia
Sibling taxa
A. acanthochiton, A. albus, A. arenicola, A. australis, A. blitoides, A. blitum, A. californicus, A. cannabinus, A. caudatus, A. crassipes, A. crispus, A. cruentus, A. deflexus, A. dubius, A. fimbriatus, A. floridanus, A. graecizans, A. greggii, A. hybridus, A. hypochondriacus, A. obcordatus, A. palmeri, A. polygonoides, A. powellii, A. pumilus, A. retroflexus, A. scleropoides, A. spinosus, A. tamaulipensis, A. thunbergii, A. torreyi, A. tricolor, A. tuberculatus, A. viridis, A. viscidulus, A. watsonii, A. wrightii
A. acanthochiton, A. albus, A. arenicola, A. australis, A. blitoides, A. blitum, A. californicus, A. cannabinus, A. caudatus, A. crassipes, A. crispus, A. cruentus, A. deflexus, A. dubius, A. fimbriatus, A. floridanus, A. graecizans, A. greggii, A. hybridus, A. hypochondriacus, A. muricatus, A. obcordatus, A. palmeri, A. polygonoides, A. powellii, A. pumilus, A. retroflexus, A. spinosus, A. tamaulipensis, A. thunbergii, A. torreyi, A. tricolor, A. tuberculatus, A. viridis, A. viscidulus, A. watsonii, A. wrightii
Synonyms Euxolus muricatus A. blitoides var. scleropoides
Name authority (Moquin-Tandon) Hieronymus: Pl. Diaph. Fl. Argent., 227. (1882) Uline & W. L. Bray: Bot. Gaz. 19: 316. (1894)
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