Amaranth bent back

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Amaranth bent back
Wire-haired amaranth

Wire-haired amaranth

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order : Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family : Foxtail family (Amaranthaceae)
Subfamily : Amaranthoideae
Genre : Amaranth ( Amaranthus )
Type : Amaranth bent back
Scientific name
Amaranthus retroflexus
L.

The recurved amaranth ( Amaranthus retroflexus ), also known as the recurved foxtail or wire-haired amaranth , is a species of plant within the foxtail family (Amaranthaceae). In Central Europe it is a common, heat-loving " weed " in maize and sugar beet fields , in home and vegetable gardens and in vineyards.

description

Illustration of the wire-haired amaranth ( Amaranthus retroflexus )
Opened lid capsule with seeds and cover sheet (left). The tepals are spatulate and have a short awning tip.
Wire-haired amaranth ( Amaranthus retroflexus )

The wire-haired amaranth grows as an annual herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 15 cm to 100 cm (usually 30 to 40 cm). The upright and mostly upright branched stalk is downy, shaggy to short hairy and sometimes covered with reddish stripes, especially in the lower part. The color of the above-ground parts of the plant can be pale green, grass green or bluish green. The upper part of the root, which is up to one meter deep, is often reddish or pink in color.

The alternate and long-stalked leaves are elliptical-tongue-shaped, rhombic to oval with a length of about 5, sometimes up to 10 cm. More or less parallel lateral nerves extend from the midrib of the leaves.

The flowering period extends from July to September. The dense, pseudo-annual entire inflorescence is composed of dichasial flower clusters and at the end a dense, racemose to annual partial inflorescence . In the leaf axils there are other, smaller inflorescences. The inflorescences are erect or inclined at the tip. The flowers are in the axils of longer prophylls. These approximately 5 mm long bracts of the flowers are stiff and pointed. This makes the inflorescences feel rough to prickly. The inconspicuous flowers are five-fold. The inflorescence is straw-dry. The perigone tips of the female flowers widen in front after flowering and are spatulate in shape and outlined or trimmed in front, sometimes with a small spike tip.

The capsule fruit opens at the top with a plate-shaped lid. The fruits are thin-skinned, irregularly tearing capsules that contain a shiny black seed .

ecology

The wire-haired foxtail is a therophyte , summer annually with above-ground parts of plants that become woody with age and also survive the winter. At night, the leaves perform sleep movements and stand upright. Like all species of the Amaranthus genus , the plant follows the C 4 path of photosynthesis , and is therefore capable of higher production in warm locations. Amaranthus is of the type that binds carbon dioxide as aspartate . The species is deep-rooted and has roots to over one, possibly even over two meters deep.

There is wind bleeding . The solidified fruit stalks and twigs enable slingshot movements in the wind: there is a wind and animal spreader. The small, only 0.4 mg heavy seeds are also spread as balloon fliers and granule fliers. One plant can produce up to over 100,000 seeds . The seeds are long-lived and heat germinators. Processing spread by grain eaters also occurs. In addition, swimming and raindrops spread. The main spread occurs in Central Europe, however, with garden and arable soil by humans. Fruit ripening is from August to October.

The chromosome number is 2n = 32 or 34.

The species is one of the multi- resistant herbicide-resistant weeds .

Occurrence

The wire-haired amaranth comes from the temperate and warmer areas of eastern and central North America (northeast Mexico to Canada ).

It has since been carried off to all continents , to Europe in the 18th century. The curved back foxtail has been feral in Central Europe since the beginning of the 19th century and is a neophyte . The first evidence in Germany comes from the year 1815.

The wire-haired amaranth grows as a "weed" in vineyards, in fields, in gardens or along roadsides and is a characteristic species of nitrogen-rich root crop -Unkraut companies of order Polygono-Chenopodietalia. It also occurs on the banks of rivers, as the seeds can easily spread over the water, and then thrives in societies of the class Bidentetea. It also grows in societies of the Sisymbrion Union. The plant does not tolerate frost and survives as seeds.

Another name for the wire-haired amaranth is the name Stirr for Transylvania .

The name of the species - Recurved Amaranth - is little true. Carl von Linné , who was the first to describe it, according to Albert Thellung only had a deformed specimen pulled in a pot with branches bent back. It is therefore better to use the German name wire-haired amaranth .

use

This plant is eaten as a vegetable in different parts of the world. There are no known poisonous species in the Amaranthus genus . However, the leaves contain oxalic acid and can be high in nitrates if they are grown in soil that is rich in nitrates. It is therefore recommended to pour off the cooking water.

The bent back amaranth has been used extensively by many indigenous American peoples. In Mexico it is among the species eaten as Quelite quintonil . In the Indian state of Kerala , it is used to cook the popular dish Thoran .

The seeds are also edible raw or roasted. They can be ground into a flour and then used for bread, porridge or for thickening.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5
  2. ↑ Christoph Then, Runa Boeddinghaus: The principle of industrial agriculture in the dead end , [1]
  3. ^ Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants , published by Philipp Cohen Hanover 1882, page 24
  4. ↑ Paul Aellen: Family Amaranthaceae. In Gustav Hegi : Illustrated Flora of Central Europe . 2nd edition Volume III, Part 2, pages 461-532. Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin, Hamburg 1979. ISBN 3-489-60020-7
  5. ↑ Plants for a future
  6. ^ Ethnobotany
  7. ↑ Amaranthus retroflexus | Redroot Pigweed | Paint fingers

Web links

Commons : Recurved Amaranth ( Amaranthus retroflexus )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Pictures: [2] [3]