"MLEBLANCA" wrote:
Resembles a type of amaranth

Thanks. I was looking at some things on pigweed last week
when trying to find out what this is. I don't know where it
came from, I haven't seen it in the area before. It's making
me wonder... I was just doing some research on Amaranth,
and I found "redroot pigweed" listed as an Amaranth:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/1...4/pigweed.html

The article there indicates that it commonly grows on or near
corn fields... and while I don't have a corn field I have been
growing corn over the last few months. That's really making
me wonder about how it got where it got. :-)

It's definitely taking a liking to growing near corn (within a
couple feet of corn). It's a nitrogen fixing plant ? I've read
that it brings nutrients up to the soils surface.

I think your right about it being amaranth and I'm leaning
heavily towards it being "redroot pigweed" (Amaranthus
retroflexus L.).
http://www.wes.army.mil/el/pmis/plan.../amarant1.html

Some other site terms "redroot pigweed" as, "Anagallis retroflexus".
They must have made that term up, as I can't find another
reference to that term via Google.

Some sites suggest that it is edible. I found a cabbage worm
hiding in one, and something is eating holes into the leaves.
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/swpottery/pbo...an/pigweed.htm

Another site indicates it is only edible if grown in a non-nitrate
polluted soil, as the leaves can represent a nitrate poison.
http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/p...xus&CAN=COMIND

I don't know anything about these. Is there anyone out there that
eats amaranth? Is there a way to tell how much nitrate is in the
leaves?

A couple of the plants have grown to 4 feet in the last month or so.
One is growing in a small pot. It is reported to be a deep-rooted
plant. How deep does deep-rooted usually mean? I think I'm going
to pull the plant out of the pot and ...

I added the following pictures:
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/images...d/pigw3836.jpg
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/images...d/pigw3838.jpg
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/images...d/pw1ft839.jpg

The one in the pot looks like it has some sort of other plant
growing next to it. It's too young to tell right at the moment.
So I'm going to pass up on the idea of pulling it right now.

NOTE: I have changed the links to the images. There were too many
pictures building up and I needed to organize them.

http://www.microcosmotalk.com/images...d/unka3748.jpg
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/images...d/unkc3835.jpg

I'm still not 100% positive that it is amaranth. But it looks as
if Emilie is correct in the identification.

Thanks once again.

--
Jim Carlock
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