AMARANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 



123 



Odd corners and waste grounds should be well looked after, as 

 many of the largest tumblers come from such places. 



PROSTRATE PIGWEED 



Amardnthus blitoldes, Wats. 



Other English names: Matted Pigweed, Low Amaranth, 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : June to September. 



Seed-time: July to October. 



Range: Maine to Minnesota, southward to New Jersey, Texas, 



and Arizona. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; cultivated ground, waste places. 



Often growing with the Tumbling Pigweed, and very like it in 

 the shape of its small, spatulate leaves and small, greenish flowers ; 

 but its pale green, succulent branches are more slender, slightly 

 ridged, six inches to nearly two feet in length and lie flat on the 

 ground, spreading on all sides from 

 the central root and forming thick 

 mats. Like the other, it crowds out 

 better plants and absorbs much food 

 and moisture from the soil. The 

 bracts subtending the flowers are 

 ovate to lance-shaped, hardly exceed- 

 ing the sepals ; stamens three ; utricle 

 smooth, the seed nearly twice as large 

 as those of the Tumbleweed, and for 

 that reason much more difficult to 

 remove from other seeds, particularly 

 clover. (Fig. 76.) This plant and 

 the two preceding species are subject 

 to the white mold which attacks beets, 

 and may also harbor on their roots 

 the small striped beet-feeding beetle 

 (Systena tceniata, Say) both in the 

 larval and mature stages. 



It requires the same measures for 

 its suppression as does the Tumble- FIG. 76. Prostrate Pigweed 

 weed. (Amaranthus blitoides). X 1. 



