Flora of North America species comparison

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Amaranthus muricatus

Amaranthus subg. Albersia

African amaranth, muricate amaranth
Habit Plants annual or short-lived perennial, glabrous or slightly pubescent near tips. Plants monoecious (in some species staminate flowers are rare).
Stems

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

ascending, prostrate, or erect, not fleshy (fleshy in A. pumilus and A. californicus).
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.

Bracts

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

Inflorescences

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

mostly or exclusively axillary, glomerules or short spikes, if terminal inflorescences also developed, then axillary clusters present to base of plant.
Staminate flowers

intermixed with pistillate or at tips of inflorescences;

tepals 5;

stamens 5.

Pistillate flowers

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

style branches erect;

stigmas 3.

tepals usually (1–)3–5.
Seeds

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

Utricles

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

indehiscent, tardily dehiscent, or dehiscence circumscissile.

Amaranthus muricatus

Amaranthus subg. Albersia
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Waste places, on ballast
Elevation 0 m (0 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]
North America; South America; Eurasia; Africa
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.)

Species 25+ (17 in the flora).

Subgenus Albersia remains the most diverse infrageneric group of Amaranthus. Sections have been proposed in the subgenus (see S. L. Mosyakin and K. R. Robertson 1996). In particular, species with circumscissile fruits are placed in sect. Pyxidium Moquin-Tandon; plants with indehiscent fruits and usually three elliptic to linear tepals are members of sect. Blitopsis Dumortier; and plants with indehiscent utricles and five or, rarely, four spatulate or at least distinctly obovate tepals are housed in sect. Pentamorion (G. Beck) Mosyakin & K. R. Robertson (= Euxolus Rafinesque sect. Pentamorion G. Beck). Many species of subg. Albersia evidently belong to yet undescribed infrageneric entities and thus currently remain unassigned to any particular sections. Because of that we refrain from using here the sections of Amaranthus subg. Albersia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 431. FNA vol. 4, p. 428.
Parent taxa Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > subg. Albersia Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus
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
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms Euxolus muricatus subg. Albersia
Name authority (Moquin-Tandon) Hieronymus: Pl. Diaph. Fl. Argent., 227. (1882) (Kunth) Grenier & Godron: Fl. France 3: 3. (1855)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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