Amaranthaceae

Amaranthaceae

Herbs or shrubs with opposite or alternate ex-stipulate leaves; Flower unisexual or bisexual; perianth members 5, scarious or herbaceous, imbricate, persistent; stamens 5, opposite perianth lobes; ovary unilocular with a basal ovule;  fruit membranous utricles.

Amaranthaceae

1 (a) Pseudo-staminodes absent – Amaranthus viridis

1 (b) Pseudo-staminodes present – 2

2 (a) Bracteoles strongly spinescent with the long-excurrent midrib; flowers in pedunculate spikes, the lower flowers increasingly distant in fruit – Achyranthes aspera

2 (b) Bracteoles mucronate or aristate, but not strongly spinescent; flowers in dense, axillary, sessile or pedunculate heads or spikes – Alternanthera philoxeroides