MONTANA FIELD GUIDE™

Monoecious annual herb with sparse, stellate-pubescent foliage. Stems erect, branched, 40–100 cm. Leaves petiolate, the blades lanceolate, 2–8 cm long with entire margins. Inflorescence long-leafy bracteate panicles with spike-like branches. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers minute, 3-parted, in terminal spikes. Female flowers each subtended by 3 leaf-like bracts, below male flowers or in long-pedunculate panicles; calyx 3-parted, ca. 2 mm long, whitish. Fruit a flattened utricle, winged above, 2–3 mm long, surrounded by a slightly enlarged calyx (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Roadsides, disturbed soil; plains (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).