Amaranthus retroflexus
Common name
redroot
Family
Amaranthaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
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
Conservation status
Not applicable
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).
Flower colours
Green
Year naturalised
1869
Origin
Tropical America
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
Seed
Seeds shiny black, lens-shaped, ovate, notched at the narrow end, about 1mm in diameter (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).