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Amaranthus retroflexus

Hutt River Trail north of Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 24/03/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Stems densely hairy. Hutt River Trail north of Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 24/03/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Tepals cuspidate (arrowed). Hutt River Trail north of Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 24/03/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Section of inflorescence. Hutt River Trail north of Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 23/04/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Fruiting plant, Taupo Quay railyard, Whanganui.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 06/04/2016, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

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Common names

redroot

Biostatus

Exotic

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

Flower colours

Green

Similar taxa

Taproot shallow, reddish. Stems erect, up to 1.8 m high, rough, branching freely if not crowded. Leaves dull green, usually at least 15 cm long when mature, ovate to lanceolate. Flowers green small, in thick, stiff, panicle-like terminal spikes with many short crowded lateral branches. Bracts much longer than sepals and utricles. Sepals longer than utricle, curved, rounded, often with small notch at end (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).

Conservation status

Not applicable

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Amaranthaceae

Authority

Amaranthus retroflexus L.

Ecology

Year naturalised

1869

Origin

Tropical America

Life cycle and dispersal

Seeds shiny black, lens-shaped, ovate, notched at the narrow end, about 1mm in diameter (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).

Other information

Etymology

amaranthus: From the Greek a- ‘without’ or ‘lacking’ and maraino ‘to fade’, meaning unfading and referring to the durability of the flowers of some species

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

AMARET

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