''Amaranthus watsonii'' is a species of

amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely pack ...

known by the common name Watson's amaranth. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy places such as deserts and beaches, and disturbed areas. It is also known as a rare

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

in parts of Europe. This is an erect annual herb producing a glandular hairy stem to a maximum height of about a meter. The leaves are generally oval-shaped and up to 8 centimeters long, with a petiole of up to 9 centimeters. The species is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with male and female individuals producing different types of flowers. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a long spike cluster of flowers interspersed with spiny green glandular

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s. The fruit is a smooth capsule about 2 millimeters long that snaps in half to reveal a small shiny reddish black seed.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
watsonii Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Mexico Dioecious plants {{Amaranthaceae-stub