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Amaranthus tricolor
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Family:
AMARANTHACEAE
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Citation: Amaranthus tricolor L., Sp. Pl. 989. 1753; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 243. 1982; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 296. 1995; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 597. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 674. 2009.
Amaranthus mangostanus L., Cent. Pl. 1: 32. 1755; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 720. 1885; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1171(820). 1925.
Amaranthus gangeticus L., Syst. (ed. 10) 2: 1268. 1759; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 719. 1885; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1171(819). 1925.
Amaranthus oleraceus Burm. f., Fl. Ind. 198. 1768, non L. 1753.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Cheera
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Chinese amaranth, Joseph’s coat, Fountain plant
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Description:
Annual herb; Stem stout, usually much branched, it and the branches angular, glabrous or furnished in the upper parts with sparse, crisped hairs. Leaves glabrous or thinly pilose on the lower surface of the primary venation, green or purplish-suffused, very variable in size, long- (up to c. 8 cm) petiolate. The lamina broadly ovate, rhomboid-ovate or broadly elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, emarginate to obtuse or acute at the apex, at the base shortly cuneate to attenuate, decurrent along the petiole. Flowers green to crimson in globose clusters c. 4-25 mm in diameter, all or only the lower axillary and distant, the upper sometimes without subtending leaves and increasingly approximate to form a thick terminal spike of variable length, male and female flowers intermixed. Bracts and bracteoles broadly or deltoid-ovate, bracteoles subequalling or shorter than the perianth, pale-membranous, broadest near the base and narrowed upwards to the green midrib, which is excurrent to form a long, pale-tipped awn usually at least half as long as the basal portion and not rarely equalling it. Perianth segments 3, 3-5 mm long, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, narrowed above, pale-membranous, the green midrib excurrent into a long, pale-tipped awn; Female flowers with the perianth segments slightly accrescent in fruit. Stigmas 3, erect or recurved, c. 2 mm. Capsule ovoid-urceolate with a short neck below the style-base, circumscissile, membranous, obscurely wrinkled. Seed 1-1.5 mm, black or brown, shining, very faintly reticulate and lenticular.
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Habit:
Herb
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Flowering & Fruiting:
November-January
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grown as ornamental plant and vegetable
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Distribution:
Tropical Asia; cultivated in Africa and West Indies
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Red
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
Yes
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Vandalodu
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