Thunberg’s amaranth

Plants annual, pubescent when young, becoming glabrescent at maturity. Stems decumbent or erect, branched proximally, 0.7-1 m. Leaves: petiole ¹/2-1¹/2 times as long as blade; blade obovate or obovate-elliptic to oblan-ceolate, 1-2 × 0.5-1 cm, base cuneate to attenuate, margins entire, apex obtuse, rounded, or slightly emarginate, mucronate. Inflorescences axillary clusters extending to near base. Bracts of pistillate flowers lanceolate, 2-4 mm, shorter than tepals. Pistillate flowers: tepals 3, reflexed, ovate-elliptic to lanceolate, 3-5 mm, apex tapering and long-aristate; style branches spreading; stigmas 2. Staminate flowers intermixed with pistillate; tepals 3, equal; stamens 3. Utricles ellipsoid or ellipsoid-ovoid, 2 mm, shorter than tepals, mostly smooth (or slightly rugose distally), dehiscence regularly circumscissile. Seeds black, subglobose or lenticular, 1-1.4 mm diam., semishiny (or minutely punctulate and reticulate).

Flowering summer-fall. Uncommon, casual alien near wool-combing mills; introduced; S.C.; native to Africa.