Japanese name: イヌビユ Scientific name:Amaranthus blitum
[Overview]
An annual.
The stem is about 70 cm long and tinged with red, and is either erect or creeping along the ground.
Leaves are simple and alternate, rhombic-ovate, 2–5 cm long, with a deeply notched tip.
The leaf margins are entire.
The leaves have long petioles.
Inflorescences are borne in the leaf axils and at the stem tips; the spikes at the stem tips branch little and form dense spikes.
The flowers are either male or female, and the female flowers have 3 petals.
The bracts are short, no more than 1/2 the length of the tepals, ovate and inconspicuous.
The fruit is a flattened utricle.
[History]
It arrived before the Edo period and has become naturalized in many regions.
