Amaranthus australis

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Amaranthus australis

Description

Annual, dioecious herb, 1.0-2.5(-4.0) m; stems branched, erect or decumbent, glabrous, somewhat thickened and hollow at base. Petiole long, to 10 cm; blade lanceolate, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 6-30 x 1.5-14 cm, long-acuminate at apex, acute to rounded at base, undulate, glabrous. Inflorescence of large, terminal and axillary, lax panicles, sometimes massed as a flowering top to ca. 30 cm long, often drooping at apex; bracts 3, ovate, acute, persistent, shorter than tepals. Male flowers in narrow panicles 3-9 cm long; tepals ovate, 2.5-3 mm long, mucronate or acuminate, 1-veined; stamens 5. Female flowers in panicles 6-15 cm long; bracts of female flowers 3, rigid, resembling tepals; tepals absent; ovary ovoid, subglobose, 3- to 5-angled, stigmas 2-5. Utricle dehiscent or indehiscent, obovoid or turbinate, 1.5-2.5 mm long, 3- to 5-angled, as long as or shorter than bracts; seed brown, lenticular, lustrous, puncticulate.

Distribution

Coastal areas of Florida present, Greater Antilles present, Guianas present, Northern America, Southern America, Trinidad present
Coastal areas of Florida, the Greater Antilles, Mexico, Trinidad and northern South America; 15 collections studied, 6 from the Guianas: GU: 1; SU: 3; FG: 2.

Common Name

Creole (French Guiana): epinard; English (Suriname): klaroen, watra-kraroen, zwamp-klaroen