Amaranthus caudatus

Amaranthus caudatus (also known as Amaranthus edulis and Amaranthus mantegazzianus) is a species of annual flowering plant. It goes by common names such as love-lies-bleeding, pendant amaranth, tassel flower, velvet flower, and foxtail amaranth. To the Quechua people of South America, A. caudatus is referred to as kiwicha, quihuicha, inca jataco; ataco, ataku, sankurachi, jaguarcha (Ecuador), millmi, or coimi. While to the Aymara people, who are native to the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America, A. caudatus is known as qamasa. Many parts of the plant, including the leaves and seeds, are edible, and are frequently used as a source of food in India as well as in South America, where it is the most important Andean species of Amaranthus, known as kiwicha. (See also amaranth seed and Andean ancient plants.) This species, as with many other amaranths, is originally from the American tropics. The exact origin is unknown, as A. caudatus is believed to be a wild Amaranthus hybridus aggregate. In indigenous agriculture, A. cruentus is the Central American counterpart to South American A. caudatus.

Description

An annual plant which can be 2 m high and 45 cm across. The stems are angular and it can have a single stem or be branched. It is often limp in the upper parts. Plants are hairy at first but become smooth. Often they are tinged purple. Leaves are 2-4 cm long by 0.7-1.6 cm wide on a leaf stalk 0.5-1.5 cm long. Leaves can taper to a tip at the end. They can also thin towards the base. The veins are pale underneath. The flower clusters are in spikes on the side or top branches. The flowers are sometimes branched and can droop over. They can be 45 cm long. The fruit is oval. Seed are 1-1.3 mm across.

Edible Uses

Leaves can be eaten raw or cooked as a spinach, or added to soups. They are mild in flavour and rich in vitamins and minerals. The seed, though very small, is easy to harvest and highly nutritious — individual plants can bear up to 100,000 seeds. Seeds can be eaten cooked, ground into a powder for baking, or popped like popcorn. When cooked whole the seed becomes very gelatinous, but it is difficult to crush all the tiny seeds in the mouth, so some will pass through the digestive system unassimilated. The seed contains 13–18% high-quality protein that is rich in the amino acid lysine, along with good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamin E, and the vitamin B complex. A red food colouring called 'betalaina' is obtained from red cultivars.

Traditional Uses

The leaves and young plant are eaten cooked. They are also used in stir fries and added to soups. The seeds are ground into flour and used to make bread. CAUTION: This plant can accumulate nitrates if grown with high nitrogen inorganic fertilisers and these are poisonous.

Medicinal Uses

The plant is astringent, anthelmintic, and diuretic. It is used in the treatment of stranguary and applied externally to scrofulous sores.

Known Hazards

No members of this genus are known to be poisonous, but when grown on nitrogen-rich soils they are known to concentrate nitrates in the leaves. This is especially noticeable on land where chemical fertilizers are used. Nitrates are implicated in stomach cancers, blue babies and some other health problems. It is inadvisable, therefore, to eat this plant if it is grown inorganically.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It can grow in warm temperate places. It cannot tolerate frost. Plants do best under high light, warm conditions and dry conditions. They need a well drained soil. Some varieties can tolerate pH up to 8.5 and there is some salt tolerance. It can grow in arid places. In the Andes it grows between 500-3,000 m above sea level. In PNG it grows best between 1,600-2,400 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 8-11.

Where It Grows

Africa, Andes, Angola, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Central Asia, China, Colombia, Congo, East Africa, East Timor, Ecuador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Europe, Gabon, Guiana, Guianas, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North America, Northeastern India, NW India, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Peru, Philippines, Sahel, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Sierra Leone, Sikkim, Slovenia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Türkiye, Uganda, Vietnam, West Africa, Zambia,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seed if the soil is warm. Seeds are small and grow easily. Cuttings of growing plants root easily. Amaranths are mostly grown from seeds. The seeds are collected from a mature dry seed head of an old plant. These dry flower stalks are stored and then the flowers rubbed between the hands over the garden site. Collecting the seeds is fairly easy by banging flower heads on a mat or piece of cloth then the rubbish can be blown out of this mixture by dropping it and blowing gently as it falls. The very small seeds of these plants are scattered over the ashes or fine soil in fertile ground. Some types are self sown. Amaranthus seeds are very small. A thousand seeds weigh about 0.3 g. It is very difficult to sow such small seeds evenly over the ground. So there are a few different methods you can use to try and get the plants well spaced. One way is to mix the seeds with some sand and then when you sprinkle this along a row it will only contain a few seeds among the sand. The other way is to throw the seeds over a small plot of ground which will be a nursery. After 2 or 3 weeks the seedlings can be transplanted into the garden bed where they are to grow. If the seeds are just scattered over the garden, the small seedlings can be thinned out and either eaten of transplanted to a different spot. Seedlings are transplanted when about 5-7 cm tall. Plants can be harvested when small by thinning out and either transplanted or eaten cooked. Plants can be harvested whole or have top leaves harvested several times. Harvesting begins after 4-7 weeks and can continue over 2 months. A spacing of about 8 cm x 8 cm is used if the plants are to be harvested by pulling up the whole plant. If the harvesting is to be done by picking off the top leaves, a wider spacing is normally used. When the tops are picked out 3 or 4 times over the life of the one plant, a spacing about 30 cm x 30 cm is used. As far as producing a large amount of food is concerned, the spacing is not very important. Having between 200 and 1,000 plants per square metre gives about the same total amount of food. The main thing that varies is the size of the leaves. Mostly people like larger leaves so a wider spacing of 8 cm to 10 cm for plants to be pulled out is suitable. For plants to be harvested by picking out the tops, they can be picked down to about 15 cm high. Picking lower makes the plant flower later, but it also recovers more slowly from picking. Amaranths grow quickly. Seedlings come up above the ground in 3 to 5 days. They are 5 to 7 cm high and big enough for transplanting after about 20 days. The plants can be pulled out and used after 6 weeks. If they are harvested by picking out the tops, this can be started at 5 to 7 weeks and continued 3 or 4 times over the next 2 months. Amaranths eventually stop producing leaves and grow flowers. Flowering occurs after about 3 months and seed can be recollected about a month later. Amaranths are called day-length neutral plants because they still produce flowers at about the same stage, irrespective of whether there are many or few hours of daylight. Because flowering stops harvesting of leaves, it is a problem, but there does not seem to be any easy way of slowing down flowering. Flowering can be delayed a little by picking out the tops down to a lower level. Also it is made a little later if plants are grown in the shade. But lower picking and growing in the shade mean the plants produce less food, so there is no point. Plants need to be harvested and used when they are ready. If plants are left growing the amount of harvestable leaf gets less and the quality gets poorer. Nitrogen deficiency shows as the oldest leaves near the bottom of the plant going yellow. This is because the plant needs more nitrogen to grow more new leaves at the top and there is not enough nitrogen in the soil for it to get it from there. So it reuses the nitrogen it used in the oldest leaves. These leaves therefore go yellow. Potassium deficiency shows as the edges of the oldest leaves going yellow. These shortages of nutrients could be corrected by adding some nitrogen or potash fertiliser but it is most likely too late for the current crop.

Propagation

Sow seed in late spring in situ. An earlier sowing can be made in a greenhouse, with plants moved outside after the last expected frosts. Germination is usually rapid and good in warm soil; a drop in temperature overnight aids germination. Cuttings of growing plants root easily.

Other Uses

Yellow and green dyes can be obtained from the whole plant. The plant is also used as a dynamic accumulator and is suitable for food forest systems.

Production

Plants take 4 - 6 months from sowing to harvesting the seed, but up to 10 months in some Andean highland regions. Yields from 1-3 or 5 tonnes per hectare of seed are common. Yields of up to one kilogram of edible leaves have been harvested by pulling out plants from an area of one square metre. The young leaves or whole plants are eaten cooked. If plants are picked 3 or 4 times over 6-8 weeks then two kilograms of edible leaves can be harvested. From a plant that grows so quickly and is such good quality food this is a very high production.

Other Information

This species is cultivated and important for its edible seed and leaves in the Andes. It is sold in markets. It is a commercially cultivated vegetable. Seed varieties have been introduced to Papua New Guinea.

Notes

Seed (Fresh weight) Protein: 18. There are about 60 Amaranthus species. The protein is high in lysine. It is a C4 plant. Seed is high in protein.

Nutrition

Synonyms

Also Known As

Alayyafoo, Anantmul, Anapatsa, Ataku, Bayam selaseh, Bayam, Biteku teku, Bonoongue, Bowa, Chalwai, Champayang, Chapata, Chailai, Damkhon, Dankhar, Den duoi-ngan, Diega krakoen, Eyasu, Gegebsa, Gimboa, Inca wheat, Jaky fotsy, Kattucheera, Kedar chua, Keikera, Kempukeere soppu, Kiwicha, Kyet-mauk, Latte sag, Libondwe, Lishalisho, Love-lies-bleeding, Lunde, Massaagu, Mboamanga, Moricha sak, Ocobo, Palengsag, Pendant amaranth, Prince-of-Wales Feather, Quinoa de castilla, Qunembi, Raafuu, Ram dana, Raso, Repati ščir, Sigappu thandu keerai, Siru kiray, Tassel Flower, Thandu keerai, Thota kura, Tianximi, Wei sui xian, Ximi, Yani

References (112)

• Agong, S.G., 2006. Amaranthus caudatus L. [Internet] Record from Protabase. Brink, M. & Belay, G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. < http://database.prota.org/search.htm>. Accessed 13 October 2009.
• Asfaw, Z. and Tadesse, M., 2001, Prospects for Sustainable Use and Development of Wild Food Plants in Ethiopia. Economic Botany, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 47-62
• Ambasta S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 33
• Ashagre, M., et al, 2016, Ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants in Burji District, Segan Area Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2016) 12:32
• Balemie, K., & Kebebew, F., 2006, Ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants in Derashe and Kucha Districts, South Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.

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