Purple Amaranth

Purple Amaranth

Amaranthus blitum L.

Amaranthaceae, the Pigweed Family

▲ mature plant

▲ young plant

▲ ▼ close-ups of flowers, leaves showing notch in leaf tips

▲ inflorescence

▲ mature plant

Amaranthus blitum L..; Purple Amaranth: (Bayer Code: AMALI; US Code AMBL2)

Warm-season annual weed with spreading growth habit; usually wider than tall, growing 6-12 inches tall
Leaves dull, dark green, egg-shaped, often with deep notch in tip of leaf
Inflorescences greenish, spike-like or in panicles at tips of stems, and sometimes just in clusters in leaf axils
Found in cultivated fields, disturbed soils, non-cropland--more common in southern Midwest

(Posted January 15, 2019)