432 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Amaranthus reiroflexus L. Pig-weed. Red Root 



Roughish, slightly pubescent, annual with stout stems 2-4 feet high; leaves 

 ovate or rhombic ovate; upper lanceolate, acute or acuminate at apex; flowers 

 in dense spikes ; bractlets about twice as long as the 5 scarious mucronate-tipped 

 sepals ; stamens 5 ; seed black. 



Distribution. Naturalized from tropical America; found throughout the 

 United States, especially on waste ground far northward. Also naturalized in 

 Europe. 



Amaranthus hybridus h. Slender Pig-weed 



Similar to the preceding but with darker green or purple foliage; stem 

 more slender, erect; leaves ovate or rhombic ovate, smaller than the preceding; 



Fig. 208. Prostrate Pigweed (Amaranthus hlit aides'). A common weed. May cause 

 bloat. (Charlotte M. King.) 



spikes linear-cylindrical, forming dense terminal panicles; bracts subulate, twice 

 as long as the acute or cuspidate sepals ; stamens 5 ; utricle but slightly wrinkled. 

 Distribution. Species naturalized from tropical America but rare or local 

 in places; common southward. 



Amaranthus spinosus h- Spiny Amaranth 



Stout, branched stem, leaves ovate, rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, acute at 

 both ends with a pair of rigid stipular spines; sepals mucronate-tipped l-nerved; 

 utricle scarcely circumscissile. 



Distribution. In waste or cultivated ground as far north as Massachusetts, 

 Illinois and common in Missouri and Southward. Naturalized from tropical 

 America. 



Poisonous properties. The spiny amaranth sometimes produces mechanical 

 injuries. Mr. O'Gara calls attention to the injurious properties of the first 

 species in Nebraska. He says that it doubtless causes a great deal of trouble in 

 some parts of that state. Mr. C. C. Palmer near North Platte lost 5 head of 

 cattle in his pasture. In all cases they were very much bloated and a post- 

 mortem examination revealed a good deal of pig-weed in the stomachs. The 

 animals in question had been accustomed to prairie grass pasture and broke into 

 a field containing considerable of this pig-weed, some Russian Thistle and 



