Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

TALL WATER-HEMP

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Amaranthus tuberculatus J. D. Sauer

[=Amaranthus rudis J. D. Sauer]

[=Amaranthus tamariscinus (Nutt. ) Alph. Wood]

Cowley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 8-80+ inches

Family: Amaranthaceae - Amaranth Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, much-branched, glabrous or nearly so; nodes without paired spines.

Leaves:

Cauline, alternate; long-petiolate; blade oblong to elliptic, lanceolate, or rhombic, 4/5 to 8 inches long, 2/5 to 2 inches wide, base acute to attenuate, often oblique, margins entire, tip acute to rounded or occasionally notched, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences:

Terminal panicles, axillary usually spikes, sometimes panicles; bracts 3, lanceolate, shorter than to as long as tepals, .06 to .1 inch, apex long-acuminate.

Flowers:

Staminate flowers: tepals 5, unequal or equal, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, .1 to .12 inch or inner ones slightly shorter when unequal, apex acuminate to awn-like; stamens 5. Pistillate flowers: tepals 0-2, unequal, lanceolate to linear, .02 to .08 inch, apex awn-like; stigmas 3-4.

Fruits:

Utricles 1/25 to 1/12 inch; seed 1, black, biconvex, ca. 1/25 inch.

Habitat:

Shores of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, sandbars, marshes, moist sites in fields and pastures, and waste places.

Distribution:

Occurs statewide

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Plants dioecious.

Tall water-hemp flowers