Gomphrena haageana, the Rio Grande globe amaranth, is a herbaceous perennial plant that acts as an annual in temperate climates. The most common cultivar is known as Strawberry Fields globe amaranth. It has a red flower reminiscent of a strawberry. It can grow up to 45 cm (18 in) in height.

Rio Grande globe amaranth
Strawberry Fields globe amaranth
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Gomphrena
Species:
G. haageana
Binomial name
Gomphrena haageana
Klotzsch
Gomphrena haageana Klotzsch, National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan.

Description

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Gomphrena haageana is a perennial herb with a tuberous root, erect, about 20–70 cm (8–28 in), simple to much-branched; stem and branches subround, striped, moderately or thinly appressed-hairy. It has red strawberry-like flower heads. Leaves are narrowly inverted-lanceshaped to linear-oblong, 3 cm–8 cm × 0.3 cm–1 cm (1+18 in–3+18 in × 18 in–38 in), pointed to rather blunt with a small point at the tip, long-narrowed at the base, rather thinly appressed-hairy on both surfaces, the pair of leaves subtending the at branch-ends inflorescence stalkless, lanceshaped-ovate, long-tapering. Flower-heads are stalkless above the uppermost pair of leaves, spherical, 2–2.5 cm (34–1 in) in diameter, sometime finally shortly cylindrical and up to about 6 cm (2+12 in) long; bracts about 6 cm (2+12 in), narrowly deltoid-ovate, somewhat plicate, mucronate with the shortly excurrent midrib, bracteoles strongly compressed, boat-shaped, about 10–15 mm (38916 in), mucronate, with an almost complete crest like that of Gomphrena globosa but generally even wider and more deeply toothed. It is native to Texas and Mexico.

References

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