Amaranths (Amaranthus)
Goup I. Monoecious plants
| ..... | downy gray-green; well stalked, pointed, oval lvs | pale, spatulate lvs | pair of spines at base of lvs |
| dense spikes (1/2" wide) of chaffy greenish fls mixed w/ long, bristle-like bracts | green amaranth (8.retroflexus = bent backward) chevron-lvs; trop Am, now widespread | ..... | ..... |
| more slender bending fl spikes (3/8" wide); green or red fls | hybrid amaranth (11.hybridus) same, but taller, smoother, darker; trop Am, now cosmo weed | ..... | spiny amaranth (7.spinosus = spined) pantropical to NY |
| crowded in leat axils, each with three sharp bracts | tumbleweed (2.albus = white) white-stemmed; spatulate
lvs; long lf-stalks; gardens & waste places,
throughout tumbleweed (1.blitoides) w/ purplish stem, often prostrate; w US weed, now common |
Group II. Dioecious plants.
| ............... | lvs narrowly lanceolate | lvs highly variable |
| salt & brackish water | salt-marsh water hemp (20. cannabinus) ME to FL | .......... |
| fresh water | .......... | (19.tuberculatus) VT to NJ & TN |