California Amaranth

Amaranthus californicus (Moq.) S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 42
1880.
Mengea calif ornica Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 270. 1849.
Amaranthus carneus Greene, Pittonia 2: 105. 1890.
Amaranthus albomar ginatus UHne & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 19: 318. 1894.
Stems prostrate, slender or stout, much branched from the base, 8-50 cm. long, whitish or tinged with red; leaves numerous, often crowded, pale-green, the petioles 2-18 mm. long, the blades subrotund to obovate or spatulate-oblanceolate, 3-25 mm. long, obtuse or rounded at the apex, acute to cuneate-attenuate at the base, glabrous, often white-margined and with
white nerves, sometimes purplish beneath; flowers monoecious, in small, few-flowered, dense or loose, often leafy, axillary clusters; bracts lanceolate, acute, subulatetipped, about equaling the flowers; sepals of the staminate flowers 3 or 2, elliptic-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, scarious; sepals of the pistillate flowers 1, 2, or 3, inconspicuous, one narrowly lanceolate, acute or acuminate, the others usually reduced and scale-like; stamens 1 or 2; utricle subglobose, tardily dehiscent, often tinged with red or purple; seed dark reddish-brown, 0.6-0.8 mm. in diameter.
Type; locality: California.
Distribution: Southern Washington and Alberta to central California and Nevada.