AMARANTHUS BLITUM
Common Name:- Guernsey pigweed
Homotypic 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:-
1)) Up to 80 cm. ascending to erect.
Leaves:-
1) 2-6 cm., rhombic- to- orbicular-ovate, tinged bluish or reddish usually with light or
dark spots on the upper surface, subtruncate or emarginate, margins, narrow,
white, often undulate.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, of the 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.
3) Perianth-segments 3, unequal, oblong-linear to spathulate.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule, 7-2.6(-3.0) mm. feebly rugose. without green veins, indehiscent or
dehiscing irregularly.
2) Seeds, 1.1-1.8 mm, 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