Grain Amaranth, Foxtail amaranth
Amaranthus caudatus

Family: Amaranthaceae

What it is like

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.

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.

Where it is found

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 Papua New Guinea it grows best between 1,600-2,400 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 8-11.

Countries/locations it is found in

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, 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

How it is used for food

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.

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.

Edible parts

Leaves, seeds, vegetable

How it is grown

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.

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.

Its other names

Local names

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

Synonyms

Amaranthus caudatus subsp. mantegazzianus (Pass.) ined.; Amaranthus caudatus subsp. saueri V. Jehlik; Amaranthus caudatus var. albiflorus Moq.; Amaranthus caudatus var. alopecurus Moq.; Amaranthus dussii Sprenger; Amaranthus edulis Speg.; Amaranthus leucocarpus S. Watson; Amaranthus mantegazzianus Pass.;