AMARANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 121 



Like the Smooth Pigweed, this plant is rarely absent from cul- 

 tivated ground. One reason for its constant recurrence lies in the 

 long vitality of its seeds, which are known to survive in the soil 

 for more than thirty years ; they are also a frequent impurity of all 

 commercial seeds. 



Stem stout, tough, erect, green, rough-hairy, much branched, 

 occasionally attaining a height of ten feet, but usually one to six 

 feet tall, springing from a long, 

 fleshy, red taproot, befringed with 

 pink or white rootlets. Leaves long 

 ovate or rhombic-ovate, three to six 

 inches in length, dull green, rough- 

 hairy, with long petioles and promi- 

 nent ribs and veins. Flowers on 

 large, dense, terminal and axillary 

 panicles, each subtended by three 

 rigid, prickly bracts ; they are very 

 small, greenish, with five sepals and 

 five stamens ; stigmas two or three. 

 Each flower produces but one oval, 

 flattened, jet-black, and shining seed 

 which readily falls from its place 

 when ripe. (Fig. 74.) 



Means of control 



Prevent seed production. This 

 means that attention must be given 

 to cultivated crops after the horse- F IG 74. _ R oug h Pigweed 

 hoe has ceased its rounds, either (Amaranthus retroflexus). x i. 

 hand-pulling or hoe-cutting late 



plants which persistently strive to reproduce themselves. If they 

 are nearing maturity, remove the plants from the ground, for 

 seeds will ripen on the stout stalks. In grain fields, seedlings 

 may be dragged out with a weeding harrow in the spring, when 

 the crop is but a few inches tall. Or later, but before the weed 

 blooms or the grain begins to head, spray with Iron or Copper 

 sulfate. 



