Amaranthaceae: The pigweed family

Botany (main)

Published: August 22, 2014, 2:28 pm

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Botany (main) Biodiversity (main) Biology (main)

Amaranthaceae is a plant family inthe order Caryophyllales thatis native to tropical America and Africa, ranging between tropics and sub-tropics to more temperate regions. The family is believed to have originated in either the southwestern region of the United States, Latin America, or Africa. The Amaranthaceae family is dominated by herbs but also includes vines, shrubs and trees, and is comprised of approximately 800 species represented by 60 plus genera and broadly divided into two sub families (Amaranthoideae and Gomphrenoideae).

Physical Description

Leaves are mostly simple and entire, non-stipulate, phyllotaxy is alternate/opposite. Flowers are regular, cyclic, tiny, and characterized by spiny perianth with conspicuous bracts and bractlets and are either unisexual/bisexual (hermaphrodite), solitary/aggregated into inflorescence (spikes/cymes/heads) (Fig 1). Calyx presents with 3-5 sepals, corolla with 3-5 petals, androecium with 5 stamens, gynoecium with pistil having 2-3 carpels, 1-3 styles, ovule campylotropus, ovary-superior with one chamber enclosing one to several ovules, placentation basal. Fruits are fleshy/non-fleshy, dehiscent/non-dehiscent, capsule/berry/nutlet/drupe. Seeds are small and numerous, black/light to dark brown/reddish brown in color, commonly globose/sub-globose/lenticular in shape. Pollen gains monosiphonous and multi-aperturate.

Economic Importance

The Amaranthaceae family has many economically important plant species, including ornamentals (eg. Iresine, Celosia, Gompphrena, Amaranthus etc),weeds (eg. infamous pigweeds like Amaranthus retroflexus, A. albus, A. graecizans etc),protein rich, white-seeded grain species (A. caudatus, A. cruentus etc) and several others (Table 1). Important secondary metabolites include different alkaloids, saponins, sapogenins, flavonols, betalins etc. The family is interesting in terms of photosynthesis variations among the members since some show preference for either C3 or C4 cycles while some others are C3-C4 intermediates.

The members of Amaranthaceae family are presented in table 1.

Table 1. Members of the Amaranthaceae family

Ref.	Species & accepted Taxa	Genera	Family
USDA, 2014	Achyranthes aspera L.	Achyranthes L.	Amaranthaceae
USDA, 2014	Achyranthes atollensis H. St. John
USDA, 2014	Achyranthes canescens R. Br.
USDA, 2014	Aerva javanica (Burm. f.) Juss. ex Schult.	Aerva Forssk.
USDA, 2014	Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. ex Schult.
USDA, 2014	Aerva sericea Moq.
USDA, 2014	Alternanthera bettzichiana (Regel) Voss	Alternanthera Forssk.
USDA, 2014	Amaranthus acanthochiton Sauer	Amaranthus L.
USDA, 2014	Amaranthus albus L.
USDA, 2014	Blutaparon vermiculare (L.) Mears	Blutaparon Raf.
USDA, 2014	Celosia argentea L.	Celosia L.
USDA, 2014	Celosia nitida Vahl
USDA, 2014	Chamissoa altissima (Jacq.) Kunth	Chamissoa Kunth
USDA, 2014	Charpentiera densiflora Sohmer	Charpentiera Gaudich.
USDA, 2014	Charpentiera tomentosa Sohmer
USDA, 2014	Cyathula prostrata (L.) Blume	Cyathula Blume
USDA, 2014	Deeringia amaranthoides (Lam.) Merr.	Deeringia R. Br.
USDA, 2014	Digera muricata (L.) Mart.	Digera Forssk.
USDA, 2014	Froelichia arizonica Thornb. ex Standl.	Froelichia Moench
USDA, 2014	Gomphrena caespitosa Torr.	Gomphrena L.
USDA, 2014	Gomphrena nitida Rothr.
USDA, 2014	Gossypianthus lanuginosus (Poir.) Moq.	Gossypianthus Hook.
USDA, 2014	Guilleminea densa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Schult.) Moq.	Guilleminea Kunth
USDA, 2014	Hermbstaedtia odorata (Burch.) T. Cooke	Hermbstaedtia Rchb.
USDA, 2014	Iresine argentata (Mart.) D. Dietr.	Iresine P. Br.
USDA, 2014	Iresine lindenii Van Houtte
USDA, 2014	Lithophila muscoides Sw.	Lithophila Sw.
USDA, 2014	Nototrichium divaricatum D.H. Lorence	Nototrichium (A. Gray) Hillebr.
USDA, 2014	Nototrichium sandwicense (A. Gray) Hillebr.
USDA, 2014	Pfaffia grandiflora (Hook.) R.E. Fries	Pfaffia Mart.
USDA, 2014	Philoxerus portulacoides A. St. Hil.	Philoxerus R. Br.
USDA, 2014	Psilotrichum trichotomum Blume	Psilotrichum Blume
USDA, 2014	Tidestromia carnosa (Steyerm.) I.M. Johnst.	Tidestromia Standl.
USDA, 2014	Tidestromia gemmata I.M. Johnst.
USDA, 2014	Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standl.

References and Further Readings

• Akhani H, Edwards G, Roalson EH (2007) Diversification Of The Old World Salsoleae s.l. (Chenopodiaceae): Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis Of Nuclear And Chloroplast Data Sets And A Revised Classification. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 168(6): 931-956. doi: 10.1086/518263
• Carolin RC (1983) The trichomes of the Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 103: 451-466.
• Eliasson UH (1988) Floral morphology and taxonomic relations among the genera of Amaranthaceae in the New World and the Hawaiian Islands. Bot. J. Linn. Soc., 96: 235-283.
• Kadereit G, Mavrodiev EV, Zacharias EH, Sukhorukov AP (2010) Molecular phylogeny of Atripliceae (Chenopodioideae, Chenopodiaceae): Implications for systematics, biogeography, flower and fruit evolution, and the origin of C4 Photosynthesis. - American Journal of Botany, 97(10):1664-1687. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1000169.
• Kadereit G, Mucina L, Freitag H (2006) Phylogeny of Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae): diversification, biogeography, and evolutionary trends in leaf and flower morphology. Taxon, 55(3): 617-642.
• Mahbubur Rahman A. H, Iffat Ara Gulshana M (2014) Taxonomy and Medicinal Uses on Amaranthaceae Family of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2(2): 54-59.
• Robertson KR (1981) The genera of Amaranthaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 62: 267-314.
• Sánchez del-Pino I, Borsch T, Motley TJ (2009) trnL-F and rpl16 sequence data and dense taxon sampling reveal monophyly of unilocular anthered Gomphrenoideae (Amaranthaceae) and an improved picture of their internal relationships. Systematic Botany, 34:57–67.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1600/036364409787602401
• Standley PC (1915) The North American tribes and genera of Amaranthaceae. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 391-396.
• Standley PC (1917) Amaranthaceae. In: N. L. Britton et al., eds. 1905+. North American Flora. New York. Vol. 21, pp. 95-169.
• Sukhorukov AP (2007) Fruit anatomy and its taxonomic significance in Corispermum (Corispermoideae, Chenopodiaceae). Willdenowia, 37:63-87
• USDA (2014) Classification for Kingdom Plantae Down to Family Solanaceae. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Available at: https://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=Solanaceae&display=63 On 28th June, 2014

Citation

Basu, S., Zandi, P., Sengupta, R., & Cetzal-Ix, W. (2014). Amaranthaceae: The pigweed family. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Amaranthaceae:_The_pigweed_family