Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer RG & FJ Richardson, Dorking, England

Fruiting bodies and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer Murray Fagg, ACT

Plant. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer Murray Fagg, ACT

Line drawing in Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Common Name

Red-root Amaranth

Family

Amaranthaceae

Notes

Introduced annual forb to 1m tall, the base of the stem and the roots red. Bracts below the flowers with spiny tips. Leaves alternating up the stems, 4-7cm long, hairy, with pointed tips. Flowers small (less than 3mm across), greenish, in short cylindrical groups at the bases of the upper leaves and forming dense bristly panicles at the tops of the stems.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 284

PlantNET description with line drawing:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Amaranthus~retroflexus