AMARANTHUS CRUENTUS

Family:- AMARANTHACEAE

Common Names:- Mexican grain amaranth.

Synonyms:- Amaranthus hybridus subsp. cruentus, Amaranthus paniculatus

var. cruentus.

Meaning:- Amaranthus (Gr) Unfading, reference to the everlasting flowers.

Cruentus (L) Bloody, blood-red, blood-coloured.

General description:- Erect annual, usually reddish or purplish throughout.

Stems:-

a) 30-150 cm.

b) erect or ascending, stout, branched.

c) sparsely to densely hairy (pubescent) above.

d) often reddish-tinged.

Leaves:-

a 3-15 x 2-8 cm.

b) Long petiolate.

c) broadly lanceolate to rhombic-ovate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) elongate-spicate, often compound, with long branches.

b) terminal inflorescence usually dense and with short branches at the base.. 2)

2) Bracteoles:

a) 2-4 mm.

b) with a short sharp terminal point (mucro); 1-1½ times as long as the perianth.

3) Perianth-segments:

a) 5, 1·5-2(-2·4) mm.

b) narrowly ovate, usually acute, about as long as the fruit.

4) Stamens 5.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule.

a) 2-2.5 mm.

b) usually longer than the perianth.

c) splitting open to release the seeds (dehiscing) transversely.

2) Seed:

a) c. 1 mm.

b) black or pale.

Key features:-

1) Perianth-segments lanceolate or narrowly ovate or elliptical, acute.

2) Longest bracteoles of the female flowers 1-1½ times as long as the perianth.

Habitat:- Fallow fields, gardens and ruderal habitats. Perhaps not fully naturalised.

0-700(-1100) m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece except the NE. Originated in C

America by domestication of A. hybridus. Limited distribution on Crete.

(Introduced).

Flowering time:- May-Oct.

Photos by:- An Other