Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus > Amaranthus blitoides

Amaranthus blitoides (mat amaranth; prostrate amaranth; prostrate pigweed)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Amaranthus blitoides, commonly called mat amaranth, prostrate pigweed, procumbent pigweed, prostrate amaranth, or matweed, is a glabrous annual plants species. It usually grows up to 0.6 m, though it may grow up to 1 m (3 feet). It flowers in the summer to fall. It is believed to have been a native of the central or eastern United States, but it has naturalized in almost all of temperate North America. It has also naturalized in South America and Eurasia. Some authorities list it as an invasive species.
View Wikipedia Record: Amaranthus blitoides

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Monoecious
Hazards [2]  No members of this genus are known to be poisonous, but when grown on nitrogen-rich soils they are known to concentrate nitrates in the leaves. This is especially noticeable on land where chemical fertilizers are used. Nitrates are implicated in stomach cancers, blue babies and some other health problems. It is inadvisable, therefore, to eat this plant if it is grown inorganically.
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Annual
Pollinators [2]  Wind, Bats
Structure [3]  Herb
Usage [2]  Yellow and green dyes can be obtained from the whole plant; A glue is made from the plant; No more information is given, it is likely that the starch from the seed was used;
Height [2]  8 inches (0.2 m)
Width [2]  12 inches (0.3 m)
Light Preference [4]  Full Sun
Soil Fertility [4]  Rich
Soil Moisture [4]  Mostly Dry
View Plants For A Future Record : Amaranthus blitoides

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Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
3Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
4Ellenberg, H., Weber, H.E., Dull, R., Wirth, V., Werner, W., Paulissen, D. (1991) Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa. Scripta Geobotanica 18, 1–248
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0