Amaranthus caudatus

Raus, Thomas, 2022, Taxonomic, nomenclatural and floristic review of Amaranthaceae of Greece and neighbouring countries, Willdenowia 52 (3), pp. 335-357 : 339

6. Amaranthus caudatus L., Sp. Pl.: 990. 1753. – Lectotype (designated by Townsend 1974: 10): Herb. Linn. No. 1117.26 ( LINN).

Remarks — Unknown in the wild state (“homeless cultigen”), this species probably evolved in Andean South America from its assumed wild progenitor Amaranthus quitensis ( Thellung 1914: 233; Bayón 2015: 278), with which it shares obovate to spathulate perianth segments of the female flowers, distinctly obtuse at apex and with marked midrib continued into an apical mucro. Amaranthus caudatus is an economically important pseudocereal crop in N Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, after 1492 AD likewise produced in tropical to warm-temperate parts of the Old World. In Greece it is cultivated as a garden ornamental; occasional escapes from cultivation, found scattered as an ephemeral weed near places of cultivation, are not naturalized ( Arianoutsou & al. 2010). The species is not listed for the Balkan countries adjacent to Greece ( Iamonico 2015a), possibly because ornamental garden plants are, as a matter of principle, not covered by the relevant regional floras and checklists ( Assyov & al. 2012; Barina & al. 2018; Micevski 1995). A single 19 th century record was published from Turkey-in-Europe ( Aellen 1967: 341), but recent collections or observations from there are lacking. Records of A. caudatus determined on the basis of Greuter & al. (1984: 46) are questionable unless corroborated by revised herbarium specimens; they may refer to A. cruentus or A. quitensis .