Amaranthus is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Most of the Amaranthus species are summer annual weeds and are commonly referred to as pigweeds. Catkin-like cymes of densely packed flowers grow in summer or autumn. Amaranth varies in flower, leaf, and stem color with a range of striking pigments from the spectrum of maroon to crimson and can grow longitudinally from 1 to 2.5 metres tall with a cylindrical, succulent, fibrous stem that is hollow with grooves and bracteoles when mature. There are approximately 75 species in the genus, 10 of which are dioecious and native to North America with the remaining 65 monoecious species endemic to every continent from tropical lowlands to the Himalayas. Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia. Amaranth grain is collected from the genus. The leaves of some species are also eaten.
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus Amaranthus. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it the most species-rich lineage within its parent order, Caryophyllales.
The Salicornioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae. Important characters are succulent, often articulated stems, strongly reduced leaves, and flowers aggregated in thick, dense spike-shaped thyrses. These halophytic plants are distributed worldwide. Many are edible
The Chenopodioideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae in the APG III system, which is largely based on molecular phylogeny, but were included - together with other subfamilies - in family Chenopodiaceae in the Cronquist system. Food species comprise Spinach, Good King Henry, several Chenopodium species, Orache, and Epazote. The name is Greek for goosefoot, the common name of a genus of plants having small greenish flowers.
Sarcobatus is a North American genus of two species of flowering plants, formerly considered to be a single species. Common names for S. vermiculatus include greasewood, seepwood, and saltbush. Traditionally, Sarcobatus has been treated in the family Chenopodiaceae, but the APG III system of 2009 recognizes it as the sole genus in the family Sarcobataceae.
Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include the systematics of the plant families Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae and Violaceae, and the conservation ecology of grassy woodland ecosystems. He also works in biodiversity informatics, developing and teaching the development of interactive multi-access keys, and has been involved in the design of software for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Aerva is a genus of plants in the family Amaranthaceae. Its species are native to the palaeotropics, throughout continental Africa, Madagascar and smaller islands, through parts of the Middle East, India, and southeast Asia. Aerva javanica (Burm.f.) Schult. is an alien in northern Australia.
Salsola is a genus of the subfamily Salsoloideae in the family Amaranthaceae. The genus sensu stricto is distributed in central and southwestern Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. A common name of various members of this genus and related genera is saltwort, for their salt tolerance. The genus name Salsola is from the Latin salsus, meaning "salty".
Ptilotus R.Br. is a genus of approximately 120 species of annual and perennial herbs and shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. All species are native to mainland Australia, although one species, Ptilotus spathulatus (R.Br.) Poir., also occurs in Tasmania and another, Ptilotus conicus R.Br., in Malesia on the islands of Flores and Timor. Most of the diversity is in Western Australia, particularly in the Pilbara. Common names for species in this genus include mulla mulla, foxtails, pussy tails and lamb's tails. The genus was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810. In family-level phylogenetic studies, Ptilotus has been placed within a clade informally known as the 'aervoids'. It has been resolved as monophyletic and is closely related to Aerva Forssk. An interactive key to the species of Ptilotus is available at KeyBase.
Caryophyllales is a diverse and heterogeneous order of flowering plants that includes the cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, beets, and many carnivorous plants. Many members are succulent, having fleshy stems or leaves. The betalain pigments are unique in plants of this order and occur in all its families with the exception of Caryophyllaceae and Molluginaceae.
Sphaeranthus is a genus of Asian, African, and Australian plants in the stinkwort tribe within the daisy family.
Haloxylon is a genus of shrubs or small trees, belonging to the plant family Amaranthaceae. Haloxylon and its species are known by the common name saxaul. According to Dmitry Ushakov, the name borrowed from the Kazakh "seksevil". In modern Kazakh language, the shrub is called "seksewil". According to the school etymological dictionary, the name saksaul was borrowed in the 19th century from the Turkic languages.
Ptilotus clementii (Farmar) Benl, commonly known as tassel top, is a native Australian annual herb growing to between 0.3 and 1 metre high. Nodding, green flower spikes are produced between March and November in the species' native range.
The Polycnemoideae are a small subfamily of plants in the family Amaranthaceae, representing a basal evolutionary lineage. The few relictual species are distributed in Eurasia and North Africa, North America, and Australia.
Salsola kali was the botanical name for a species of flowering plants in the amaranth family, whose subspecies have been recently reclassified as two separate species in the genus Kali:
Ptilotus nobilis, commonly known as yellow tails, is an annual or short-lived perennial herb of the family Amaranthaceae. It is found in arid regions of South Australia, southern and eastern Northern Territory, western Queensland and western New South Wales.
Axyris amaranthoides is a species of flowering plant, in the family Amaranthaceae, that has been introduced to North America. It was introduced into Manitoba in 1886 and has since spread to other provinces in Canada and the United States. Axyris amaranthoides (2n=18) is commonly known as Russian pigweed and upright axyris. The Chinese name is zhouli (轴藜).
Deeringia is a genus of flowering plants in the amaranth family Amaranthaceae. Its native range is tropical Asia, western Pacific, Australia and Madagascar.
Oxybasis urbica is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Amaranthaceae.
Deeringia amaranthoides is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae family and is distributed from the western Himalayas east across southern China, down through south east Asia and Indonesia, across New Guinea to parts of Australia.
