Amaranthus fimbriatus

Fringed amaranth

Family: Amaranthaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Fringed amaranth is a California native perennial found in the Mojave Desert bioregion on sandy, gravelly slopes and washes, especially after summer rains, at elevations of 600 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from August to November, this plant produces green to pink-purple flowers in flexible, nodding spike-like inflorescences 10 to 30 centimeters long. Growing with erect or ascending green or purple stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall that are generally branched, it develops distinctive linear to narrow-lanceolate leaves 20 to 60 millimeters long with narrow wedge-shaped bases. Its leaves have flat margins and are attached to petioles 8 to 40 millimeters long, with the plant producing circumscissile fruits 1.3 to 2 millimeters long that are green to tan and slightly wrinkled.

Habitat: Sandy, gravelly slopes, washes, especially after summer rains

Bloom period: Aug-Nov

Elevation: 600-1700 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, Inyo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.