Amaranthus emarginatus Salzm. ex Uline & W. L. Bray subsp. emarginatus

Raus, Thomas, 2022, Taxonomic, nomenclatural and floristic review of Amaranthaceae of Greece and neighbouring countries, Willdenowia 52 (3), pp. 335-357 : 343

11a. Amaranthus emarginatus Salzm. ex Uline & W. L. Bray subsp. emarginatus ≡ Amaranthus blitum subsp. emarginatus (Salzm. ex Uline & W. L. Bray) Carretero & al. in Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 44: 599. 1987 ≡ Amaranthus blitum var. emarginatus (Salzm. ex Uline & Bray) Lambinon in Bull. Soc. Échange Pl. Vasc. Eur. Occid. Médit. 24: 55. 1993 ≡ Amaranthus emarginatus Salzm. ex Uline & W. L. Bray var. emarginatus (sec. Iamonico in Phytotaxa 199: 31. 2015).

Remarks — This subspecies is native to the tropics of both hemispheres, locally introduced to warm-temperate parts of Europe and North America ( Bayón 2020: 51). In Greece it is a fully established element of annual pioneer vegetation on muddy ground of autumnally dried-up rivers and lakes (abundantly so in North East, Lake Kerkini), annually resprouting from the local seedbank; it is expected to colonize frequently irrigated garden land as well. The prostrate, mat-forming growth is not caused by environmental factors but is genetically fixed according to Hügin (1987). Decumbent forms of Amaranthus blitum , referred to as A. blitum f. microphyllus (Opiz) Thell. or A. blitum f. repens (Spenner) Thell. , differ clearly in their constantly larger fruits and seeds and usually variously speckled, somewhat fleshy leaves ( Thellung 1914: 328–329; Hügin 1987: 458–460).