Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Amaranthus albus
Common name
Tumbleweed, Stiff Tumbleweed
Family
Amaranthaceae
Where found
Pastures, roadsides, disturbed sites, and along streams. Sydney area, tablelands, ACT, and Western Slopes. Occasional elsewhere.
Notes
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)
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