Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
![Print Fact Sheet](fs_images/print.png)
Amaranthus albus
Tumbleweed, Stiff Tumbleweed
Amaranthaceae
Pastures, roadsides, disturbed sites, and along streams. Sydney area, tablelands, ACT, and Western Slopes. Occasional elsewhere.
Introduced annual herb less than 1 m high or sprawling. Commonly breaking off near ground level at maturity, and dispersing in tumbleweed-fashion. Bracteoles below the flowers spiny tipped. Stems pale, sometimes turning red at maturity, almost hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.2-5 cm long, 2–20 mm wide, margins entire, tips with a mucro. Male and female flowers on the same plant. Flowers inconspicuous, greenish, with 3 'petals' each 1-2 mm long, bracts 3-4 mm long, bracteoles about 2 mm long. Flowers in few-flowered unisexual clusters about 5 mm long.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Amaranthus~albus (accessed 3 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application: