This section is from the book "Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers", by Caroline A. Creevey. Also available from Amazon: Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers.
Family, Amaranth. Corolla, wanting. Sepals, 5, tipped with a point. Stamens, 5, awl-shaped. Stigmas, 2 or 3. Bracts, 3, awl-pointed, under the flowers, which are collected in dense axillary and terminal spikes. Leaves, ovate, or the upper lance-shaped, pointed, long-petioled. August to September.
Coarse, ugly annuals, growing as weeds in cultivated grounds.
 
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