Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Amaranthus caudatus

Other names

Careless, cat tail, tassel flower, prince's feather.

Family

Amaranthaceae

Flowering season

July to October

English distribution

Thinly scattered throughout the UK but is most common in

southern areas and least common in the Northeast.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

Love-lies-bleeding

Habitat

It is a neophyte from the americas and is widely grown in

gardens in the UK. 

It is found as an escape on tips and waste ground.

Description 

Love-lies-bleeding is an erect, arching annual herb growing

up to 80cm.

Flowers are small, only up to 2.5mm, in dense clusters

on deep-red hanging spikes up to 30cm.

Male and female flowers are separate but mixed on the

same spike.

Each flower has 5 overlapping tepals with terminal

bristles.

Males tepals are oblong with bristles longer than on

female tepals. Female tepals are oblong-lanceolate.

There are 5 stamens and 3 linear, wavy stigmas.

Bracts and bracteoles are also red and bristled.

Fruits are  ovoid to spherical capsules.

Leaves are ovate to triangular, pale green turning

reddish in the autumn.