The leaves are broad, ovate and closely-packed on the main stem and branches making it a typical leafy vegetable. Amaranthus hybridusĪmaranthus hybridus, commonly called smooth amaranth or smooth pigweed is a robust, heavy-branching plant that can reach a height of one metre or more in permissive environments. It has several common names, including blood amaranth, red amaranth, purple amaranth, prince’s feather, and Mexican grain amaranth. The leaves can be cooked like spinach, and the seeds can be germinated into nutritious sprouts. The plant is usually green in color, but a purple variant was once grown for use in Inca rituals. It’s equally at home among tropical plants or colder climate perennials. Amaranthus cruentusĪmaranthus cruentus is believed to have originated from Amaranthus hybridus, with which it shares many morphological features. Its everlasting flowers can be used for fresh or dried arrangements and birds love the seedheads. Great for the back of the border or as a filler. Wonderfully exotic, Amaranthus caudatus features an upright, bushy habit and adds drama in the garden. The blossoms stand out against the foliage of large, light green, ovate leaves. It is a striking, erect annual or biennial noted for its unusual, long tassel-like racemes of tiny crimson flowers in summer and fall. Amaranthus caudatusĪmaranthus caudatus goes by common names such as love-lies-bleeding, pendant amaranth, tassel flower, velvet flower, foxtail amaranth, and quilete. Male and female flowers are borne on different regions of the same plant-linear or branched terminal spikes with mostly male flowers, and globular axillary clusters of mostly female flowers. The taproot may or may not be distinctly reddish in color. Like other pigweeds, spiny amaranth develops a strong taproot with a network of fibrous feeder roots. Leaf blades are egg-shaped to diamond-shaped, with the broader end closest to the stem. Each leaf node along the stem bears a pair of rigid, sharp spines. Stems and leaves are smooth and hairless, sometimes shiny in appearance. Amaranthus spinosusĪmaranthus spinosus, commonly known as the spiny amaranth, spiny pigweed, prickly amaranth or thorny amaranth is an erect, often bushy, much-branched summer annual, growing to heights of 2–5 feet. The nutty edible seeds can be eaten as snacks or used in biscuits. They give way to wrinkled fruit capsules that contain smooth and glossy seeds. In summer, a dense spike, often with many branches, is packed with small green flowers. A decoction of the entire plant is used to stop dysentery and inflammation. Occasionally eaten as a cooked vegetable, the leaves are diuretic and purgative and used in poultices to treat inflammations. Amaranthus viridisĬommonly known as slender amaranthor green amaranth is a vigourous, erect annual or short-lived perennial with a slender branched stem and deeply veined leaves with a long leaf stalk. Green-leaved species plants are sometimes grown as a vegetable crop (spinach substitute). However a number of cultivars are available in commerce featuring leaves brilliantly blotched with various shades of yellow, red, pink and/or copper, with the upper plant leaves often contrasting in color from the lower ones. It is an upright, bushy annual that typically grows to 2-4 feet tall with ovate to elliptic, green to purple leaves. Common varieties of Amaranth plants include:Īmaranthus tricolor, known as edible amaranth or commonly called Joseph’s coat, is grown not for its flowers but for its beautifully colored foliage. The small flowers typically feature colourful bracts and are arranged in dense showy inflorescences a single plant can produce hundreds or thousands of seeds, borne singly in dry capsule fruits. Amaranthus when grown at home are started from seed each year, although the plants grow vigorously, putting on 2 feet of growth in just one to two months if grown under very warm conditions. The plants can be monoecious (flowers of both sexes are on the same individual) or dioecious (each individual produces flowers of a single sex). The stems often are reddish in colour and sometimes are armed with spines they bear simple alternately arranged leaves and often feature a pinkish taproot. Amaranth plants typically are annuals or short-lived perennials.
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