AMARANTHUS BLITUM

Family:- AMARANTHACEAE

Common Name:- Guernsey pigweed

Synonyms:- Amaranthus graecizans var. blitum, Euxolus blitum, Glomeraria

blitum

Meaning:- Amaranthus (Gr) Unfading, reference to the everlasting flowers.

Blitum (Gr) An ancient Greek name for a kind of spinach.

General description:- Ascending to erect annual.

Stems:-

a) up to 80 cm.

b) ascending to erect.

Leaves:-

a) 2-6 cm.

b) rhombic- to- orbicular-ovate.

c) tinged bluish or reddish usually with light or dark spots on the upper surface.

d) subtruncate or emarginate.

e) margins, narrow, white, often undulate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) of axillary cymose clusters, forming a dense, more or less leafless spike

towards the apex.

2) Bracteoles 1/3-1/2 as long as the perianth, ovate with wide base, acute.

Perianth-segments 3, unequal, oblong-linear to spathulate.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule:

a)1.7-2.6(-3.0) mm.

b) feebly rugose.

c) without green veins.

d) indehiscent or dehiscing irregularly.

2) Seeds:

a) 1.1-1.8 mm.

b) almost as large as the fruit.

Key features:-

1) Capsule feebly rugose, without green veins, indehiscent or dehiscing irregularly.

2) Seeds almost as large as the fruit.

3) Leaves variously speckled.

Habitat:- Cultivated land, roadsides, waste places. 0-200 m.

Distribution:- Probably native to Eurasia, introduced as a weed almost worldwide.

Scattered throughout Greece. Fairly rare on Crete scattered mainly around a few

coastal areas.

Flowering time:- May-Oct.

Photos by:- An Other