Amaranthus cruentus
Amaranthus crassipes
blood amaranth, caterpillar amaranth, purple amaranth, red amaranth
clubfoot amaranth, spreading amaranth, tropical spreading amaranth
erect, green or reddish purple, branched distally, mostly in inflorescence, to nearly simple, 0.4–2 m. Leaves: petiole 1/2 as long as to ± equaling blade;
blade rhombic-ovate or ovate to broadly lanceolate, 3–15(–20) × 1.5–10(–15) cm, occasionally larger in robust plants, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margins entire, plane, apex acute or subobtuse to slightly emarginate, with mucro.
prostrate or weakly ascending, erect when young, branched mostly from base, 0.1–0.6 m. Leaves: petiole nearly 1/2 as long as blade;
blade broadly elliptic, obovate, orbiculate, or oblanceolate, (0.5–)1–3(–4.5) × 0.3–2(–2.5) cm, base cuneate, margins entire, plane to undulate, apex broadly rounded or emarginate.
narrowly spathulate, 2–3 mm, equaling or slightly longer than tepals, apex short-spinescent.
of pistillate flowers keeled (only A. scleropoides and A. crassipes have keeled bracts), deltate, 0.5–0.9 mm.
terminal and axillary, erect, reflexed, or nodding, usually dark red, purple, or deep beet-red, less commonly almost green or greenish red, leafless at least distally, large and robust.
axillary clusters borne from base to apex, axes much thickened, appearing inflated, becoming indurate at maturity (only in A. scleropoides and A. crassipes).
at tips of inflorescences;
tepals 5;
stamens (4–)5.
intermixed with pistillate;
tepals 5, membranaceous;
stamens 3(–5).
tepals 5, oblong to lanceolate, not clawed, equal or subequal, 1.5–3 mm, apex acute;
style branches erect or slightly reflexed;
stigmas 3.
tepals (4–)5, narrowly spatulate, clawed, with small expanded blade, equal or subequal, 2–3 mm, apex rounded and apiculate;
claws becoming indurate and scarious at maturity;
style branches spreading;
stigmas usually 2(–3), almost sessile.
usually white or ivory, with reddish or yellowish tint, sometimes dark brown to dark reddish brown, broadly lenticular to elliptic-lenticular, 1.2–1.6 mm diam., smooth or indistinctly punctate.
dark brownish or reddish black to black, compressed-ovoid to broadly lenticular, 1–1.4 mm diam., shiny.
obovoid to elongate-obovoid, 2–2.5 mm, smooth or slightly rugose distally, dehiscence regularly circumscissile.
obovoid to compressed-obovoid, 1.4–2 mm, shorter than tepals, prominently muricate (especially in distal 1/2), indehiscent.
Amaranthus cruentus
Amaranthus crassipes
Amaranthus cruentus is cultivated as ornamental and pseudocereal almost worldwide from tropical to warm-temperate regions. While reported as naturalized in several states, most specimens identified as this species are referable to A. hybridus or other native species. Escaped plants of A. cruentus sometimes occur near places of cultivation (see note under A. caudatus). No attempt has been made to summarize distribution data for such escapes.
Amaranthus cruentus originated from A. hybridus (most probably in cultivation in Central America), with which it shares almost all major morphologic characteristics. Inclusion of cultivated forms in A. hybridus in a broad sense is thus rather justified. Cultivated species traditionally have been treated as separate taxa in horticultural and agricultural literature, and we prefer to maintain the current convenient usage of these names.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Two varieties have been distinguished by J. Henrickson (1999) within Amaranthus crassipes: var. crassipes with leaf blades nearly orbiculate to ovate (obovate) and conspicuous veins on the green to yellow-green abaxial leaf surface; and var. warnockii (I. M. Johnston) Henrickson (= A. warnockii I. M. Johnston) with narrower oblanceolate grayish leaves with less distinct venation on the abaxial leaf surfaces. In Henrickson’s treatment, var. crassipes occurs mostly in the coastal areas (and is also reported for Arizona), while var. warnockii is reported from inland southwestern Texas and the Chihuahuan Desert region (Mexico: Coahuila, Chihuahua). We have not seen material of the new varieties and cannot evaluate their validity.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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