Green Callaloo Amaranth (Amaranthus viridis) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Green callaloo amaranth, better known in the US as slender amaranth, is a weedy annual with long, slim green flower spikes that grows on roadsides, farm fields, and vacant lots. The USDA lists it as native in the lower 48 states, while in Hawaii it's an introduced weed called pakai. Its leaves are cooked like spinach in parts of South Asia and Africa.

Appearance

Appearance: An upright, mostly hairless annual usually about 16–36 in (40–90 cm) tall, though small plants can be as short as 8 in (20 cm). It often branches from the base.
Leaves: Alternate, long-stalked leaves are oval to diamond-shaped, about 0.4–2.75 in (1–7 cm) long, with smooth edges and a blunt or barely notched tip.
Flowers: Tiny green flowers with no petals crowd along thin, open spikes at the stem tips. Male and female flowers grow on the same plant.
Fruit: Each one-seeded fruit is only about 1/25–1/16 in (1–1.6 mm) long, wrinkled when dry, and stays closed instead of splitting open.

Look-alikes

Large-fruit amaranthAmaranthus deflexus

Large-fruit amaranth's fruits are larger, about 1/10 in (2.3–2.6 mm), and smooth or only slightly wrinkled. Slender amaranth's are smaller and clearly wrinkled when dry. You'll need a close-up photo of ripe fruit.

Why they get mixed upBoth are small green weedy amaranths of disturbed ground.

Purple amaranthAmaranthus blitum

Purple amaranth has a deep notch at the leaf tip and shorter flower spikes. Its ripe fruit stays green with only shallow wrinkles, while slender amaranth's turns hard, pale brown, and deeply wrinkled.

Why they get mixed upBoth have green spikes and leaves with a notched or blunt tip.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: roadsides
farm fields
railroads
vacant lots
dumps
Range: Native to tropical America, including the southern US and Mexico. In the US it's considered native in the lower 48 and only rarely turns up in New England (Massachusetts). It's introduced in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
Preferred conditions: Grows on disturbed ground that people keep clearing or mowing, usually in drier spots rather than wetlands.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: The leaves are cooked like spinach in parts of India (such as Kerala and Bengal), in the Maldives, and in parts of Africa, and the plant has a place in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.
The nutty seeds are edible. They can be scraped off ripe spikes between the fingers and eaten as a snack or baked into biscuits.

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