Synonyms: | |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | Very rare in Zambia |
Status: | Introduced |
Description: |
Erect or spreading annual herb, up to c 80 cm high, with a densely hairy, stout, subterete to angled stem. Leaves ovate to rhomboid or oblong-ovate, 5–11 cm long, hairy along the veins beneat and often the lower margins; petiole up to c. 6 cm long, sometimes as long as leaf-blade. Flowers in stout, axillary and terminal spikes, usually shortly branched to give a lobed appearance, greenish or rarely somewhat pink-suffused, male and female flowers intermixed, the latter generally much more plentiful. Bracts and bracteoles lanceolate-subulate, pale-membranous with a prominent green midrib. Perianth segments 5. Capsule subglobose, c. 2 mm long, usually shorter than the perianth. |
Type location: |
Cultivated plant |
Notes: | Only known from a single record in Zambia. |
Derivation of specific name: | |
Habitat: | |
Altitude range: (metres) | |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Native in North America and Mexico, introduced into the Old world as a weed, but mostly in more temperate regions of Europe, Mediterranean region, North Africa and temperate Asia. Also in South Africa, Australia and northern South America. |
FZ divisions: | S |
Zambian distribution (Provinces): | S |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Monday 30 March 2020 |
Literature: |
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 16. Townsend, C.C. (1988). Amaranthaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1) Pages 46 - 47. |