Amaranthus cruentus, Heldreich, 1891

Raus, Thomas, 2022, Taxonomic, nomenclatural and floristic review of Amaranthaceae of Greece and neighbouring countries, Willdenowia 52 (3), pp. 335-357 : 341-342

9. Amaranthus cruentus L., Syst. Nat., ed. 10: 1269. 1759 ≡ Amaranthus hybridus subsp. cruentus ( L.) Thell. in Mém. Soc. Natl. Sci. Nat. Math. Cherbourg 38: 205. 1912. – Lectotype (designated by Townsend 1974: 12): Herb. Linn. No. 1117.25 ( LINN).

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= Amaranthus flavus L., Syst. Nat., ed. 10: 1269. 1759. – Lectotype (designated by Iamonico 2014b: 147): Herb. Linn. No. 1117.23 ( LINN).

Amaranthus paniculatus L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2: 1406. 1763. – Lectotype (designated by El Hadidi & El Hadidy 1981: 37): Herb. Linn. No. 1117.20 ( LINN). Amaranthus sanguineus L., Sp. Pl., ed. 2: 1407. 1763. – Lectotype (designated by Iamonico 2014b: 148): Herb. Linn. No. 1117.21 ( LINN) .

Remarks — The species most likely evolved in Central America ( Mexico, Guatemala) by domestication from Amaranthus hybridus . It is cultivated as a pseudocereal (grain amaranth) in tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres ( Bayón 2015: 279). Produced commercially in hot and dry areas of the United States, Argentina and China, its quick growth and high nutritional value (with a much higher protein content than in most other cereals) make it an ideal crop for developing countries ( Ventosa-Febles 2015). It is also a traditional leaf vegetable in countries of tropical Africa and S and SE Asia (Costea & al. 2003). In Greece it is a popular pot herb and garden vegetable, occasionally escaping from cultivation and scattered all over Greece ( Strid & Tan 1997: map 258) but not truly naturalized ( Arianoutsou & al. 2010). Some cultigens with differently coloured inflorescences were formerly described as separate species ( A. flavus , A. sanguineus ). Amaranthus cruentus can be confused with some forms of A. hypochondriacus but differs in the constantly shorter floral bracts and the slender, usually patent lateral inflorescence branches (not thick and stiffly ascending-erect as in A. hypochondriacus ). The species is given for Albania as a casual alien ( Barina & al. 2018) but has not been mentioned so far for North Macedonia ( Iamonico 2015a). In Bulgaria it is considered naturalized ( Greuter & al. 1984; Iamonico 2015a) but was not listed or mapped in Assyov & al. (2012), perhaps due to the taxonomically and floristically misleading inclusion in A. hybridus (as, unfortunately, advocated by Greuter & al. 1984).