Amaranthus blitum Seeds | Purple Amaranth
LATIN NAME: Amaranthus blitum
COMMON NAME: Purple Amaranth, Livid Amaranth
Plant Profile
Purple amaranth is a sprawling annual of the amaranth family, native to the Mediterranean region and now widespread in warm temperate and tropical countries. It grows twenty to sixty centimetres tall, with ascending or prostrate stems, small oval leaves that are often tinged with purple, and inconspicuous green flower spikes in the leaf axils.
It is a familiar weed of gardens, fields and waste ground, and it is also gathered as a wild green in many parts of the world. The plant roots at the nodes where the stems touch the ground, which is how a single seedling can spread into a dense patch in one season.
Science & Biotechnology
The species sits inside a genus that contains both major grain crops and serious agricultural weeds, which makes its taxonomy and genetics unusually interesting. Comparative studies have looked at how the weedy amaranths differ from the cultivated grain species in seed size, branching and photoperiod response.
Research on the genus has also examined its C4 photosynthesis, which lets it grow quickly in heat, and its ability to evolve herbicide resistance, a trait shared with other amaranths. Its seeds are edible and nutritious, though the yield per plant is small compared with the grain amaranths.
Uses & Benefits
The leaves are eaten as a spinach-like vegetable in Greece, Turkey, India and parts of Africa, usually cooked with onions and olive oil, and the seeds can be ground into flour, though the yield is small. In the garden it is mostly a volunteer, appearing in warm, disturbed soil, and it is of little ornamental value.
It has a folk record as a mild astringent and as a cooling green for summer. Because it grows so quickly, it is sometimes used as a catch crop or a living mulch between slower vegetables, though it will seed itself into the next crop if it is left to ripen.
The plant is also fed to pigs and poultry in some countries, and it is used as a green manure.
Growing from Seed
Sow in late spring, five millimetres deep, at 20-25C. Germination is fast and the plant grows quickly in heat. It needs full sun and open ground, and it will self-seed freely if a few plants are left to ripen.
Thin to twenty centimetres apart if you want to harvest leaves, and pick the young tips regularly to keep the plants bushy. It tolerates poor soil and drought, but it resents cold and will not germinate in cool ground, so wait until the soil has warmed.
A fortnightly pick keeps the plants young and stops them running to seed.
It grows well in a container, where its sprawl is contained.
It will not tolerate frost, so sow after the last spring frost.
Our Take
Purple amaranth is a useful pot herb and an interesting weed, but it is not a garden ornamental. Grow it for the kitchen, and keep it from seeding into the borders.
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