Amaranthaceae

Globe amaranth Gomphrena globosa, from Missouri Botanical Garden.

Belongs within: Caryophyllales.
Contains: Achyranthes, Amaranthus, Ptilotus.

The Amaranthaceae are a family of mostly herbaceous plants found worldwide, with the highest diversity in the Americas. Economically significant members of the family include Spinacia oleracea, spinach, which is used as a pot herb. Gomphrena globosa, globe amaranth, is grown as an ornamental for its bright, globose inflorescences, and its leaves have a history of use in herbal remedies. Alternanthera is a primarily tropical and subtropical genus of herbs with flowers born in sessile axillary congested clusters (Allan 1961). Members of the Amaranthaceae have been divided between two subfamilies according to the manner of anther dehiscence, which is unilocular in the Gomphrenoideae and bilocular in the Amaranthoideae.

Characters (from Kanis 1978): Herbs, rarely shrubs or woody climbers. Leaves opposite or alternate, without stipules, simple. Inflorescences racemose or more or less paniculate, of single flowers or cymose flower clusters, with persistent bracts. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, usually with two bracteoles; tepals (3-)5, free; stamens (3-)5, opposite tepals, filaments usually more or less joined at base, usually with interposed staminodes or pseudostaminodes, anthers one- or two-celled; ovary superior, one-celled, with 1(-many) basal ovules often pendent from erect funicle. Fruit usually a nut, sometimes a capsule or berry.

<==Amaranthaceae
    |--Amarantheae [Amaranthoideae] T00
    |    |--Amaranthus K78
    |    `--Ptilotus M99
    `--Gomphrena K78 [Gomphrenoideae T00]
         |--G. brachystylis LK14
         |    |--G. b. ssp. brachystylis LK14
         |    `--G. b. ssp. pindanensis LK14
         |--G. breviflora LK14
         |--G. canescens LK14
         |--G. celosioides Mart. 1825 K78
         |--G. connata LK14
         |--G. diffusa LK14
         |--G. eichleri LK14
         |--G. flaccida LK14
         |--G. globosa Linnaeus 1753 K78
         |--G. humifusa LK14
         |--G. leptoclada LK14
         |--G. parviflora LK14
         |--G. serrata ACW01
         `--G. tenella LK14

Amaranthaceae incertae sedis:
  Spinacia oleracea PT01
  Cyathula prostrata (Linnaeus) Bl. 1826 K78
  Dicraurus YY22
  Pleuropterantha YY22
  Acnida YY22
  Amblogyna polygonoides [=Amarantus polygonoides] C55
  Psilotrichum ferrugineum (Roxburgh) Moq. in DC. 1849 [incl. P. trichotomum Bl. 1826] K78
  Pupalia K78
    |--P. lappacea [incl. P. atropurpurea] K78
    `--P. micrantha LK14
  Arthraerua leubnitziae CV06
  Marcelliopsis splendens CV06
  Calicorema squarrosa CV06
  Hermbstaedtia spathulifolia CV06
  Nothosaerva brachiata PP07
  Digera PP07
    |--D. arvensis VB02
    `--D. muricata PP07
  Celosia argentea Linnaeus 1753 K78
    |--C. a. var. argentea K78
    `--C. a. var. cristata [=C. cristata Linnaeus 1753] K78
  Aerva K78
    |--A. javanica PP07
    `--A. lanata (Linnaeus) Schultes 1819 K78
  Chamissoa J87
    |--C. altissima J87
    `--C. nodiflora C55
  Haloxylon B14
    |--H. persicum RBA00
    `--H. salicornicum AGF98
  Iresine K78
    |--I. aggregata C55
    |--I. herbstii Hooker 1864 K78
    `--I. vermicularis [incl. Illecebrum vermiculatum] C55
  Euxolus C55
    |--E. caudatus [=Chenopodium caudatum] C55
    |--E. oleraceus [=Amarantus oleraceus] C55
    `--E. polygamus [=Amarantus polygamus] C55
  Deeringia K78
    |--D. amaranthoides (Lamk.) Merr. 1917 (see below for synonymy) K78
    |--D. arborescens (Brown) Druce 1917 [incl. D. altissima (Moq.) Muell. 1860] K78
    `--D. polysperma (Roxburgh) Moq. in DC. 1849 (see below for synonymy) K78
  Alternanthera Forsk. 1775 A61
    |--A. angustifolia LK14
    |--A. bettzickiana (Regel) Nichols. 1885 K78
    |--A. caracasana H93
    |--A. denticulata Br. 1810 A61 (see below for synonymy)
    |--A. nana LK14
    |--A. nodiflora [=A. triandra var. nodiflora] H90
    |--A. paronychioides VB02
    |--A. philoxeroides C74
    |--A. pungens Kunth 1818 [incl. A. repens (Linnaeus) Link 1821 non Gmel. 1791] K78
    |--A. sessilis (Linnaeus) DC. 1813 [incl. A. tenuissima (Suess.) Backer 1949] K78
    `--A. versicolor B28
  Achyranthes K78
  Teleanthera C06
  Guilleminea densa [=Brayulinea densa] H93
    |--G. d. var. densa H93
    `--G. d. var. aggregata H93
  Tidestromia H93
    |--T. lanuginosa H93
    `--T. oblongifolia [incl. T. oblongifolia ssp. cryptantha] H93
  Allmania nodiflora S00
  Froelichia gracilis H90
  Nyssanthes H90
    |--N. diffusa H90
    `--N. erecta H90

Alternanthera denticulata Br. 1810 A61 [=A. triandra var. denticulata H90; incl. A. sessilis Hook. f. 1854 non (Linnaeus) DC. 1813 A61]

Deeringia amaranthoides (Lamk.) Merr. 1917 [incl. D. baccata (Retz.) Moq. 1849, D. celosioides Brown 1810 (nom. illeg.), D. indica Retz. ex Bl. 1826] K78

Deeringia polysperma (Roxburgh) Moq. in DC. 1849 [incl. D. indica Zoll. ex Moq. 1849 non Retz. ex Bl. 1826] K78

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AGF98] Abd El-Ghani, M. M., & A. G. Fahmy. 1998. Composition of and changes in the spontaneous flora of Feiran Oasis, S Sinai, Egypt, in the last 60 years. Willdenowia 28: 123–134.

[ACW01] Aguilar, H., C. C. Childers & W. C. Welbourn. 2001. Relative abundance and seasonal occurrence of mites in the family Tydeidae on citrus in Florida. In: Halliday, R. B., D. E. Walter, H. C. Proctor, R. A. Norton & M. J. Colloff (eds) Acarology: Proceedings of the 10^th International Congress pp. 376–380. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[B28] Betrem, J. G. 1928. Monographie der Indo-Australischen Scoliiden mit zoogeographischen Betrachtungen. H. Veenman & Zonen: Wageningen.

[B14] Bouchard, P. (ed.) 2014. The Book of Beetles: A lifesize guide to six hundred of nature's gems. Ivy Press: Lewes (United Kingdom).

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.

[C74] Crowder, J. P. 1974. Exotic Plant Pests of South Florida. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (USA).

[H90] Harden, G. J. (ed.) 1990. Flora of New South Wales vol. 1. New South Wales University Press.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[K78] Kanis, A. 1978. Amaranthaceae. In: Womersley, J. S. (ed.) Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1 pp. 12–42. Melbourne University Press: Carlton South (Australia).

[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.

[M99] Matthews, M. 1999. Heliothine Moths of Australia: A guide to bollworms and related noctuid groups. CSIRO Publishing.

[PP07] Pandey, R. P., & P. M. Padhye. 2007. Studies on phytodiversity of Arid Machia Safari Park-Kailana in Jodhpur (Rajasthan). Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 15–78.

[PT01] Pemberton, L. M. S., S.-L. Tsai, P. H. Lovell & P. J. Harris. 2001. Epidermal patterning in seedling roots of eudicotyledons. Annals of Botany 87: 649–654.

[RBA00] Rifai, L. B., M. Abu Baker & Z. S. Amr. 2000. Ecology, distribution and status of the rock hyrax, Procavia capensis syriaca, in Jordan. Zoology in the Middle East 21: 19–26.

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[T00] Thorne, R. F. 2000. The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae (subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Caryophyllidae, Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae, and Lamiidae). The Botanical Review 66: 441–647.

[VB02] Vijay, S. K., & T. N. Bhardwaja. 2002. Vegetation and phenodynamics of wetlands of central Rajasthan. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (3): 573–581.

[YY22] Yampolsky, C., & H. Yampolsky. 1922. Distribution of sex forms in the phanerogamic flora. Bibliotheca Genetica 3: 1–62.

Last updated: 4 April 2020.