Amaranthus caudatus
| Love-lies-bleeding | |
|---|---|
| Amaranthus caudatus growing in the Botanical garden, Bremen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Amaranthus |
| Species: | A. caudatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Amaranthus caudatus | |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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Amaranthus caudatus (also known as Amaranthus edulis and Amaranthus mantegazzianus) is a species of annual flowering plant. It goes by common names such as love-lies-bleeding, pendant amaranth, tassel flower, velvet flower, foxtail amaranth, and quelite.
To the Quechua people of South America, A. caudatus is referred to as kiwicha, quihuicha, inca jataco; ataco, ataku, sankurachi, jaguarcha (Ecuador), millmi, or coimi. While to the Aymara people, who are native to the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America, A. caudatus is known as qamasa.
Many parts of the plant, including the leaves and seeds, are edible, and are frequently used as a source of food in India as well as in South America, where it is the most important Andean species of Amaranthus, known as kiwicha. (See also amaranth seed and Andean ancient plants.) This species, as with many other amaranths, is originally from the American tropics. The exact origin is unknown, as A. caudatus is believed to be a wild Amaranthus hybridus aggregate. In indigenous agriculture, A. cruentus is the Central American counterpart to South American A. caudatus.