Amaranthus

Amaranthus, comprising about 70 species, is a poorly understood and under exploited genus. The commonly cultivated species, i.e., A. cruentus, A. caudatus and A.hypochondriacus, belong to the so-called Amaranthus hybridus complex, a group of species in which taxonomic problems are far from clarified because of apparently common hybridization and nomenclatural disorder caused by misapplication of names. The above mentioned three species, which are cultivated for grain, are called pseudocereals, i.e., non-grasses that are used in much the same way as cereals (true cereals are grasses). The number of amaranth species consumed as leaf vegetables is even larger, including some wild species and weeds.