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- yg. 74, — Rough Pigweed 
hoe has ceased its rounds, either (Amaranthus retroflerus). X 4. 
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 hater, but before the weed 
blooms or the grain begins to head, spray with Iron or Copper 
sulfate. 
