Record display
PROTA4U Homepage| Select translation pop-up: |
|
|
PROTA4U Record display |
PROTA4U Homepage
|
| Sp. pl. ed. 2, 2: 1405 (1763). | |||
| show more data (15) | comments (0) |
| Amaranthaceae | |||
| show more data (20) | comments (0) |
| 2n = 34 | |||
| show more data (7) | comments (0) |
| Amaranthus gracilis Desf. ex Poir. (1810). | |||
| show more data (61) | comments (0) |
| Green amaranth, local tete, African spinach (En). Amarante verte, épinard vert, épinard du Congo (Fr). Amaranto (Po). Mchicha (Sw). | |||
| show more data (28) | comments (0) |
| Amaranthus viridis is possibly of Asian origin but now a cosmopolitan weed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, also penetrating far into temperate regions (e.g. in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia). In tropical Africa it is also a widespread and common weed. It is occasionally cultivated (e.g. in Nigeria, Gabon and DR Congo). | |||
| show more data (48) | comments (0) |
| Amaranthus viridis leaves and young plants (before they come into flower) are occasionally eaten as a cooked vegetable. The plant is also a good cattle fodder and green manure. The leaves are diuretic and purgative, and are used in poultices (fresh or as dried powder) to treat inflammations, boils and abscesses, gonorrhoea, orchitis and haemorrhoids. In Nigeria an infusion of the whole plant is used to purify the blood and the pounded root is applied against dysentery. In Côte d’Ivoire leaf sap is used as an eye wash to treat eye infections and for treating convulsions and epilepsy in children. In DR Congo the sap is said to act as a vermifuge, being effective against filaria, as an emmenagogue and to relieve heart troubles. The leaves are believed to have febrifugal properties. Ash of Amaranthus viridis plants is rich in soda and is occasionally used to make soap. | |||
| show more data (22) | comments (0) |
| The composition of the leaves of Amaranthus viridis is comparable to that of other Amaranthus species, e.g. Amaranthus cruentus L. The (powdered) leaf contains tannin, reducing sugar and resin. Amasterol (24-methylene-20-hydroxycholest-5,7-en-3β-ol) has been isolated from the roots; this compound has allelopathic effects on lettuce seed germination. | |||
| show more data (1) | comments (0) |
| Erect or ascending annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 1 m tall; stem slender, branched, angular, glabrous to sparsely pubescent in upper part with multicellular hairs. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole up to 10 cm long; blade deltoid-ovate to rhomboid-oblong, 2–8 cm × 1.5–6 cm, base shortly cuneate, apex emarginate with small mucro, margin sometimes sinuate, glabrous to pubescent. Inflorescence consisting of agglomerated cymes arranged in slender, axillary or mostly terminal spikes, frequently paniculate, up to 12 cm long, in the lower part of the stem often in dense axillary clusters c. 7 mm in diameter. Flowers unisexual, subsessile, green, male and female intermixed but female ones more numerous; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate-ovate, c. 1 mm long, whitish-membranous; tepals 3, oblong to obovate, 1–1.5 mm long, midrib often thickened above, bent along the fruit; male flowers with 3 stamens; female flowers with superior, 1-celled ovary crowned by 2–3 short stigmas. Fruit a subglobose capsule, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, not or slightly exceeding the perianth, indehiscent, usually strongly wrinkled, 1-seeded. Seed subglobose, slightly compressed, c. 1 mm in diameter, margin acute, glossy black, verrucose or with inconspicuous sculpture. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons lanceolate, c. 12 mm × 2.5 mm. Amaranthus comprises about 70 species, of which about 40 are native to the Americas. It includes at least 17 species with edible leaves and 3 grain amaranths. Amaranthus viridis is often confused with Amaranthus blitum L., but the latter differs in its often more ellipsoid and smooth or slightly wrinkled fruits. It is sometimes also confused with Amaranthus deflexus L., a perennial herb with prostrate or ascending stems originating from temperate South America, but now naturalized as a weed in many parts of the world, locally also in tropical Africa (e.g. Kenya, Zimbabwe). In South Africa Amaranthus deflexus is sometimes used as a cooked vegetable. | |||
| show more data (0) | comments (0) |
| show more data (16) | comments (0) |
| show more data (21) | comments (0) |
| show more data (4) | comments (0) |
| In Africa Amaranthus viridis is a weed growing on disturbed or cultivated land, often around habitations. It flowers and fruits year-round. | |||
| show more data (7) | comments (0) |
| show more data (2) | comments (0) |
| Although mostly collected from the wild, Amaranthus viridis is easily grown from seed like other amaranths. Pigweed mosaic virus causes shorter shoots, roots and inflorescences, smaller leaves and stem diameter, less branching and a reduction of the fresh weight of shoots and roots. | |||
| show more data (1) | comments (0) |
| show more data (1) | comments (0) |
| A collection of amaranths is kept at the Rodale Organic Gardening and Farming Research Center (OGFRC) at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, United States; South-East Asian accessions are kept at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) at Tainan, Taiwan. African cultivars and introductions from OGFRC are kept at the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHR) in Nigeria and African cultivars at the AVRDC centre at Arusha, Tanzania. Indian collections are kept at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, India. Many national institutes have small working collections of local cultivars. Evaluation and variability studies are needed to reveal the amount of exploitable genetic variation. | |||
| show more data (0) | comments (0) |
| Amaranthus viridis is an interesting weed vegetable with a good nutritional value. It certainly deserves more attention to determine wider domestication possibilities and optimum cultivation practices. Its medicinal properties need further investigation as well. | |||
| show more data (1) | comments (0) |
| • Brenan, J.P.M., 1981. The genus Amaranthus in southern Africa. Journal of South African Botany 47: 451–492. • Burkill, H.M., 1985. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 1, Families A–D. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 960 pp. • Burkill, H.M., 2000. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 5, Families S–Z, Addenda. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 686 pp. • Costea, M., Sanders, A. & Waines, G., 2001. Notes on some little known Amaranthus taxa (Amaranthaceae) in the United States. Sida, Contributions to Botany 19(4): 975–992. • Townsend, C.C., 1988. Amaranthaceae. In: Launert, E. (Editor). Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 9, part 1. Flora Zambesiaca Managing Committee, London, United Kingdom. pp. 28–133. | |||
| show more data (89) | comments (0) |
| • Eluwa, M.C., 1977. Studies on Gasteroclisus rhomboidalis, Coleoptera: Curculionidae, a pest of the African spinach. Journal of Natural History 11(4): 417–424. • Hauman, L., 1951. Amaranthaceae. In: Robyns, W., Staner, P., Demaret, F., Germain, R., Gilbert, G., Hauman, L., Homès, M., Jurion, F., Lebrun, J., Vanden Abeele, M. & Boutique, R. (Editors). Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Spermatophytes. Volume 2. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 12–81. • Raponda-Walker, A. & Sillans, R., 1961. Les plantes utiles du Gabon. Paul Lechevalier, Paris, France. 614 pp. • Roy, S., Dutta, A.K. & Chakraborty, D.P., 1982. Amasterol, an ecdysone precursor and growth inhibitor from Amaranthus viridis. Phytochemistry 21: 2417–2420. • Sena, L.P., VanderJagt, D.J., Rivera, C., Tsin, A.T.C., Muhamadu, I., Mahamadou, O., Millson, M., Pastuszyn, A. & Glew, R.H., 1998. Analysis of nutritional components of eight famine foods of the Republic of Niger. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 52: 17–30. • Shamsher-Singh & Verma, V.S., 1976. Effect of pigweed mosaic virus on growth characters of Amaranthus viridis L. Gartenbauwissenschaft 41: 280–282. • Townsend, C.C., 1985. Amaranthaceae. In: Polhill, R.M. (Editor). Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 136 pp. • Townsend, C.C., 2000. Amaranthaceae. In: Edwards, S., Mesfin Tadesse, Demissew Sebsebe & Hedberg, I. (Editors). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Volume 2, part 1. Magnoliaceae to Flacourtiaceae. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. pp. 299–335. • van der Zon, A.P.M. & Grubben, G.J.H., 1976. Les légumes-feuilles spontanés et cultivés du Sud-Dahomey. Communication 65. Département des Recherches Agronomiques, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 111 pp. | |||
| show more data (38) | comments (0) |
| show more data (2) | comments (0) |
| |||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| Jansen, P.C.M., 2004. Amaranthus viridis L. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed . | |||
| There are 21 study abstracts related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 200 book citations related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 201 citation in web searches related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 163 citation in scholarly articles related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 14 news article citations related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 23 citations in Afrirefs related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| There are 15 Wikipedia citations related to Amaranthus viridis L.. Click on "show more" to view them. | ||
| show more data | comments (0) |
| General importance |  |
| Geographic coverage Africa |  |
| Geographic coverage World |  |
| Cereals and pulses |  |
| Vegetables | |
| Forage/feed use |  |
| Medicinal use | |
| Food security | |
Comments (.jpg)
