Jepson Herbarium
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Annual to subshrub; monoecious and/or dioecious; occasionally spiny; hairs simple (branched).
Leaf: blade simple, alternate or opposite, margins entire or serrate; veins pinnate; stipules 0.
Inflorescence: axillary or terminal; 3-flowered cymes in dense spikes, heads or panicles; bracts 0 or 1–5, persistent; bractlets 0–2.
Flower: bisexual or unisexual, small, green (± white), yellow or purple; perianth parts 0 or (1)3–5, free or fused basally, scarious or hardened, persistent; stamens 1–5, opposite perianth parts, free or basally fused as a tube, generally unequal, occasionally alternate with appendages on stamen tubes (pseudostaminodes), anthers 2- or 4-chambered; ovary superior, chamber 1; ovule 1 (2–many); style (0)1–3, stigmas 1–3(5).
Fruit: utricle; generally with persistent perianth or bracts.
Seed: 1 [2+], small, lenticular to spheric, smooth or dotted to striate or tubercled.
± 75 genera, 900 species: cosmopolitan, especially disturbed, arid, saline or alkaline soils; some cultivated for food, ornamental; many naturalized, ruderal or agricultural weeds. [Müller & Borsch 2005 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 92:66–102] Amaranthaceae including Chenopodiaceae by some. Polycnemoideae, represented in CA by Nitrophila, formerly considered subfamily of Chenopodiaceae, but needs further research. Guilleminea densa (Willd.) Moq. var. aggregata Uline & W.L. Bray is a waif. Froelichia gracilis (Hook.) Moq. is an historical waif. —Scientific Editors: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Unabridged references: [Kadereit et al. 2003 Int J Plant Sci 164:959–986; Robertson 1981 J Arnold Arbor 62:267–313]

Key to Amaranthaceae

[Annual] perennial herb, aquatic to terrestrial.
Stem: prostrate or ascending; hairs simple.
Leaf: opposite, subsessile to short-petioled, blade margins entire to serrate.
Inflorescence: axillary or axillary and terminal, sessile or peduncled, many-flowered cylindric spikes or spheric heads; bracts and bractlets persistent, scarious.
Flower: bisexual; perianth parts 5, free, ± equal or not, scarious, persistent, white, glabrous or woolly; stamens 3–5, fused at base into short tube or cup, anthers 2-chambered; pseudostaminodes 5, alternate with stamens; ovary obovoid to ± spheric; style short, ± 0.2 mm; stigma spheric (2-lobed), ovule 1, pendent.
Fruit: indehiscent; fruit wall membranous.
Seed: 1, lenticular or ovoid- oblong, ± red brown, smooth, shiny.
± 170 species: generally tropical America. (Latin: alternating pseudostaminodes and stamens) Alternanthera sessilis (L.) DC. occasionally a greenhouse weed <Noxious weed>; Alternanthera ficoidea (L.) P. Beauv. var. bettzickiana (Regel) Backer widely cultivated, CA reports unconfirmed.

Terrestrial.
Stem: prostrate, mat-forming, 10–50 cm, woolly, ± glabrous in age.
Leaf: petiole 2–10 mm; blade 5–25 mm, 3–15 mm wide, rhombic- ovate to obovate, tip rounded, short-pointed, sparsely woolly, ± glabrous in age.
Inflorescence: 5–8 mm, 4–6 mm wide, ovoid, white to straw-colored; bracts 3–3.5 mm, ovate to lanceolate, keeled, midrib hairy, acuminate to awned.
Flower: perianth parts unequal, spine-tipped, outer 3.5–5 mm, ± lanceolate, not keeled, 3-veined abaxially, inner 2.5 mm, ± linear, keeled, generally 1-veined; stamens 5, filaments 0.2–0.4 mm, pseudostaminodes < stamens, triangular or awl-like, entire to dentate.
Fruit: ± 1.5 mm, ovoid-spheric, brown, tip ± truncate.
Seed: 1–1.5 mm, ovate-spheric.
Generally disturbed areas; < 150 m. South Coast;

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].

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Bioregions in which taxon occurs	Red area (if present) is the part of the bioregion lying between the upper and lower elevation limits of the taxon; markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may have georeferencing or identification issues.
Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.	Map made in collaboration with Scott Loarie. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. View all CCH records   CCH collections by month Duplicates counted once; synonyms included. Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa. Blue line denotes Manual flowering time.