Amaranthaceae

(Amaranth or Pigweed family)

Herbs often with red, succulent stems, minute flowers, no corolla, mostly alternate leaves. Five genera, 20 + species. Common genera: Froelichia (cottonweed), Amaranthus, Celosia.

Amaranthus retroflexus

Redroot Pigweed

Summer annual. Stems erect, to six feet tall, rough textured, freely branching. Pull green leaves, long petioles. Small, green flowers in dense spikes in upper leaf axils and stem ends, with three spiny bracts around each flower. Shiny black, tiny seed. Found in cultivated fields, barnyards, fencerows and waste areas.

Smooth pigweed (A. hybridus) is similar but petioles shorter, plant texture not rough, with fewer, less dense flower spikes.