Family |
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthus albus
L.
Amaranthus albus L.
(Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 1268, 1759; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 442; Pl. CL nº 5; 1966)
• Life-form & habit: Annual, erect or decumbent herb up to 60 cm; stems white, glabrous or slightly reddish, sometimes papillose-scabrid.
• Leaves: Small, glabrous or nearly so, not exceeding 2 × 1 cm, rather long-petioled; blade thin, undulate-crispate on margins, oval to subspatulate, base attenuate, apex rounded-obtuse, shortly mucronate-aristulate.
• Inflorescence & flowers: All flowers in axillary glomerules, sometimes pauciflorous. Bracteoles subulate, rigidly spinose, twice as long as the flowers. Sepals of two forms: 3 narrowly acuminate-spinulose, and 3 oblong-linear, obtuse.
• Fruit: Capsule c. 1 mm; seed black, glossy.
• Phenology: Flowers June–December.
• Habitat & elevation: Roadsides, waste ground, field margins.
• Lebanese distribution: Beirut and suburbs (Bouchriyé, Saint-Élie), Beqaa (Metn), Banias (South Lebanon).
• Syrian distribution: Aleppo, Chahba, Hauran (Ezra‘a), banks of the Tigris near the Roman bridge.
• Native range: Southeastern USA and NE Mexico — Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mexico Northeast, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia (POWO).
• Introduced into: Widely naturalized across Europe, Asia, North Africa, South America, and Australasia (full POWO list includes: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Lebanon–Syria, Libya, Morocco, Mongolia, New Zealand, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey-in-Europe, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, etc.).