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Amaranthus graecizans
Also called Short Tepalled Pigweed, Spreading Pigweed, Tumbleweed, Short Tepal Pigweed
Mediterranean amaranth is a fast-growing annual weed of disturbed ground, reaching about 50 cm, valued in parts of Africa and the Middle East as a leafy vegetable. It is a wild plant rather than a garden ornamental, and it grows quickly after rain.
Amaranthus graecizans, the Mediterranean amaranth or short-tepalled pigweed, is an annual species in the botanical family Amaranthaceae. It is native to Africa, southern Europe, East Asia to India and Central Asia. It is naturalized in North America. More general common names include tumbleweed and pigweed.
Amaranthus graecizans grows in warm temperate zones where it can be found at elevations up to 2,400 metres (7,900 feet). It grows rapidly after rain and can be found on disturbed ground in the vicinity of human and livestock settlements as well as seasonally flooded sandy flats.
The edible leaves are used as a vegetable throughout Africa and the Middle East. It can be eaten raw, but was more often cooked, or added to sauces and stews. A common way to cook Amaranthus graecizans was to cook it in buttermilk, or to squeeze fresh lime-juice over it. The seeds are starchy and can also be eaten
Greenstripe · Prostrate pigweed · Mat amaranth · Purple amaranth · Brown's amaranth · Love-lies-bleeding · Red amaranth · Spleen amaranth · Slim amaranth · Prince-of-Wales feather · African amaranth · Carelessweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Amaranthus graecizans by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
