Belongs within: Caryophyllales.
Contains: Alternanthera, 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.
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. Aerva is an Old World genus of perennial herbs with alternate leaves, bisexual flowers, distinctly hairy bracts and tepals, and dry, single-seeded fruits. Celosia species are annual herbs with fruits a many-seeded, membranous, circumscissile capsule (Kanis 1978).
Characters (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
| |--AmaranthusK78
| `--PtilotusM99
`--GomphrenaK78 [GomphrenoideaeT00]
|--G. brachystylisLK14
| |--G. b. ssp. brachystylisLK14
| `--G. b. ssp. pindanensisLK14
|--G. brevifloraLK14
|--G. canescensLK14
|--G. celosioides Mart. 1825K78
|--G. connataLK14
|--G. diffusaLK14
|--G. eichleriLK14
|--G. flaccidaLK14
|--G. globosa Linnaeus 1753K78
|--G. humifusaLK14
|--G. leptocladaLK14
|--G. parvifloraLK14
|--G. serrataACW01
`--G. tenellaLK14
Amaranthaceae incertae sedis:
Spinacia oleraceaPT01
CyathulaK72
|--C. prostrata (Linnaeus) Bl. 1826K78
`--C. tomentosaSS72
DicraurusYY22
PleuropteranthaYY22
AcnidaYY22
Amblogyna polygonoides [=Amarantus polygonoides]C55
Psilotrichum ferrugineum (Roxburgh) Moq. in DC. 1849 [incl. P. trichotomum Bl. 1826]K78
PupaliaK78
|--P. lappacea [incl. P. atropurpurea]K78
`--P. micranthaLK14
Arthraerua leubnitziaeCV06
Marcelliopsis splendensCV06
Calicorema squarrosaCV06
Hermbstaedtia spathulifoliaCV06
Nothosaerva brachiataPP07
DigeraPP07
|--D. arvensisVB02
`--D. muricataPP07
Celosia argentea Linnaeus 1753K78
|--C. a. var. argenteaK78
`--C. a. var. cristata [=C. cristata Linnaeus 1753]K78
AervaK78
|--A. javanicaPP07
|--A. lanata (Linnaeus) Schultes 1819K78
|--A. pseudo-tomentosaP73
`--A. tomentosaD17
ChamissoaJ87
|--C. altissimaJ87
`--C. nodifloraC55
HaloxylonB14
|--H. persicumRBA00
`--H. salicornicum [incl. H. schmittianum]D17
IresineK78
|--I. aggregataC55
|--I. herbstii Hooker 1864K78
`--I. vermicularis [incl. Illecebrum vermiculatum]C55
EuxolusC55
|--E. caudatus [=Chenopodium caudatum]C55
`--E. oleraceus [=Amarantus oleraceus]C55
DeeringiaK78
|--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 [incl. D. indica Zoll. ex Moq. 1849 non Retz. ex Bl. 1826]K78
AlternantheraA61
AchyranthesK78
TeleantheraC06
Guilleminea densa [=Brayulinea densa]H93
|--G. d. var. densaH93
`--G. d. var. aggregataH93
TidestromiaH93
|--T. lanuginosaH93
`--T. oblongifolia [incl. T. oblongifolia ssp. cryptantha]H93
Allmania nodifloraS00
Froelichia gracilisH90
NyssanthesH90
|--N. diffusaH90
`--N. erectaH90
Psilostachys sericeaVS73
Deeringia amaranthoides (Lamk.) Merr. 1917 [incl. D. baccata (Retz.) Moq. 1849, D. celosioides Brown 1810 (nom. illeg.), D. indica Retz. ex Bl. 1826]K78
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
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