atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

flowers separate, each with 5 sepals; seeds, small, oval, black. Weed in home gardens
and at Location. 3, 6, 7(22309, 22312).
Amaranthus hypochondriacus L. "prince's feather"
syn. A. hybridus L. var. hypochondriacus (L.) Robins.
Recent introduction. Trop. America. Rare. Smooth erect herb, up to 1 m or
higher; leaves, bright red-purple to purple-green; flowers, bright red-purple in thick
showy feathery panicles. 6.
Amaranthus spinosus L.
ma si han (C)
"spiny amaranth " , "thorny amaranth"
Pre-World War I1 introduction? Pantropical. Occasional. Smooth erect, branched
herb, 25 to 70 cm high, armed with a pair of sharp needle-like spines, about 1 to 2 cm
long, at the base of each petiole; leaf blades, 2.5 to 10 cm long and 1.5 to 4.5 cm wide,
green, alternate, broadly lanceolate, pointed at the tip; petioles, about as long as leaf
blades, clasping the stem; female flowers, pale green, clustered at leaf axils; male
flowers, pale green, borne in terminal panicles; fruit a circumscissile utricle; seeds, very
small, lens-shaped, shiny dark-brown. Weed in waste places and in gardens; occasionally
cultivated in Chinese contract workers' gardens at Location. Used as a medicinal plant
and leaves reportedly occasionally cooked for spinach by Chinese. 5, 6(140).
Amaranthus tricolor L. "Joseph's coat", "Chinese spinach". "amaranth", "pigweed"
te mota, te moota (K); in ts'oi (C)
syns. A. gangeticus L; A. melancholicus L.
Pre-World War I1 introduction? Trop. Asia. Occasional. Erect unarmed,
branching herb, up to 1.5 m tall; leaves, 3 to 7 cm long, oval, pointed to blunt, long-
petiolate, green or blotched with red or purple; flowers in rounded stemless clusters in
leaf axils and in terminal panicles, about 5 cm long; fruit, a 1-seed utricle; seed, small,
disc-shaped, dark brown, shiny. Food plant in Chinese gardens at Location and Topside
workshops. 5(27), 6.
Amaranthus viridis L. "slender amaranth", "green amaranth", "pigweed"
syn. A. gmcilis Desf.
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Recent introduction. Pantropical. Occasional. Erect or decumbent, unarmed h&b,
up to 20 to 60 cm high; stems, reddish, longitudinally-grooved; leaf blades, 3 to 7.5 cm
long and 2.5 to 5 cm wide, alternate, green above, lighter below, broadly lanceolate or
ovate, obtuse or slightly notched at tips, smooth on both surfaces; petioles, 2.5 to 5 cm