Volume 5 > Part 4 > Year 1992 > Page 387 > Amaranthaceae > Amaranthus

5. Amaranthus viridis L.wfo-0000530552

Sp. Pl. ed. 2: 1405. 1763; Hook.f. in Fl. Br. Ind. 4: 720. 1885; Gagnep. in Fl. Gén. I.-C. 4: 1064. 1936; Brenan, Watsonia 4: 275. 1961; K.Larsen in Fl. C.L.V. 24: 26. 1989. Fig. 85: 8–10; Plate XXVII: 36.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Annual herb up to 80 cm, erect or decumbent (particularly older individuals), sparsely branched or with often long arching branches from near the base; stem thin up to 5 mm diam; glabrous or minutely pubescent when young, obtusely angular. Leaves with slender petioles up to 10 cm long, lamina ovate-oblong, sometimes rhombic; base long cuneate, apex obtuse or only slightly emarginate, shortly mucronate, very thin, glabrous, 3–6 by 1.5–3 cm. Inflorescences terminal or in the axils of the upper leaves, pseudo-spikes solitary or forming a sparsely branched panicle; whole inflorescence rarely above 10 cm long. Flower-clusters dense, usually somewhat remote, leaving the axis visible, at least in the flower part. Bracts and bracteoles similar, shorter than perianth, broadly ovate, mucronate, scarious, 0.5–1 mm. Flowers unisexual, green, usually 3-merous. Tepals green with scarious margins, oblong, acute, 1–1.5 mm long; stamens 3; stigmas 2–3. Fruit an indehiscent, strongly corrugated ellipsoidal utricle exceeding the persistent perianth and bracts, ca 2 mm long, pale yellowish-brown. Seeds lenticular, shining brownish-black, ca 1 mm diam.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Fang), Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son; EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima; CENTRAL: Nakhon Nayok, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok), Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan; SOUTH-WESI‘ERN: Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; PENINSULAR: Krabi Trang, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala.

Distribution : In all warmer parts of the world.

Ecology : Widespread throughout the country, highest altitude record is 1,200 m at Fang here as a weed in a poppy field.

Vernacular : Phak khom hat (ผักขมหัด)(Central); phak khom (ผักขม), phak horn (ผักหม)(Peninsular).

CommonName : Slender Amaranth.

Uses: In certain parts of SE Asia cultivated as a pot-herb; not known to be in common use in Thailand.