Amaranthus tricolor

Amaranthus tricolor Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 989. 1753.

(Amaranthus tricolor L.; Photo monticelloshop.org)

Latin Name: Amaranthus tricolor L.

Family & Genus: Amaranthaceae, Amaranthus

Synonym Name: Amaranthus amboinicus Buch.-Ham. ex Wall.; Amaranthus bicolor Nocca ex Willd.; Amaranthus cuspidatus Vis.; Amaranthus dubius Mart.; Amaranthus flexuosus Moq.; Amaranthus gangeticus L.; Amaranthus gangeticus var. angustior L.H.Bailey; Amaranthus gangeticus var. angustior Bailey; Amaranthus inamoenus Willd.; Amaranthus incomptus Willd.; Amaranthus japonicus Houtt. ex Willd.; Amaranthus japonicus Houtt. ex Steud.; Amaranthus lanceolatus Roxb.; Amaranthus lancifolius Roxb.; Amaranthus lividus Roxb.; Amaranthus mangostanus L.; Amaranthus mangostanus Blanco; Amaranthus melancholicus L.; Amaranthus melancholicus var. obovatus Moq.; Amaranthus melancholicus var. parvifolius Moq.; Amaranthus melancholicus var. tricolor (L.) Lam. ex Moq.; Amaranthus mucronatus Hook.f.; Amaranthus oleraceus Roxb.; Amaranthus polygamus Roxb.; Amaranthus polygamus Thwaites; Amaranthus rotundifolius Moq.; Amaranthus salicifolius H.J.Veitch; Amaranthus tricolor var. gangeticus (L.) Fiori; Amaranthus tricolor var. mangostanus (L.) Aellen; Amaranthus tricolor var. melancholicus (L.) Lam.; Amaranthus tricolor var. tristis (Willd.) Mehrotra, Aswal & Bisht; Amaranthus tricolor var. tristis (L.) Thell.; Amaranthus tristis L.; Amaranthus tristis Wall.; Amaranthus tristis var. leptostachys Moq.; Blitum gangeticum Moench; Blitum melancholicum Moench; Glomeraria bicolor Cav. ex Moq.; Glomeraria tricolor (L.) Cav.

English Name: Three-coloured Amaranthus, Flower Gentle, Three-coloured Amaranth, Tampala, Gangera Amaranth.

Chinese Name: 苋 xian

Vietnamese Name: Rau giền tía, Xích hiện, Giền canh.

Description: Stem green or red, 80-150 cm tall, stout, often branched. Petiole green or red, 2-6 cm; leaf blade green, red, purple, or yellow, ovate, ovate-rhombic, or lanceolate, 4-10 × 2-7 cm, glabrous, base cuneate, margin entire or undulate, apex obtuse or notched, with a mucro. Flowers in dense clusters at leaf axils or in spike at apex; male and female flowers in same inflorescences. Bracts and bracteoles ovate-lanceolate, 2.5-3 mm, transparent, apex long pointed. Stamens 3. Stigmas 3. Utricles included in perianth, ovate-oblong, 2-2.5 mm, circumscissile. Seeds brownish black, subglobose or obovoid, ca. 1 mm in diam. Flowering:July –August, fruiting : August to September.

Distribution: Cultivated nationwide. Sometimes semi-wild. 

Part Used: Medical part: roots, stem leaves and seeds. Chinese name: roots: Xiangen. Stem leaves: Xian. Seeds: Xianshi.

Harvest & Processing: Roots: excavated in spring, summer and autumn, removed cauline leaved, well washed, used fresh, or sundried. Cauline leaves: collected in spring, summer, well washed, used fresh or sundried. Seeds: collected the aboveground parts, sundried, rub and taken the seeds, winnowed, and sun-dried.

Chemistry:

- Stem mainly contains linoleic acid.

- Leaves mainly contain amaranthin, linolenic acid, lignoceric acid, arachic acid, spinasterol, monogalactosyldiglyceride, digalactosyldiglyceride, and trigalacto-syldiglyceride.

- Whole plant: volatile oil of it contains 56 chemical compositions: 15 alchols, 5 esters, 13 aldehydes, 8 ketones, 3 hydrocarbons, 9 acids and 5 other compositions.

- Seeds, stems and leaves: palmitic acid,  linolenic, lignoceric and arachidic were also present in seeds but in trace amounts. Five sterols were identified and spinasterol was present in the highest amounts. Among the seeds, stems and leaves a small amount of 24-methylenecycloartenol was found in the seeds only.

Pharmacology: Anti-bacterial, antimicrobial and antioxidant.

Properties & Actions: Root: pungent, little cold. Stem leaves: sweet, little cold. Seeds: sweet, cold. Roots: clearing heat-toxin, dispersing stasis for suppressing pains. Stem leaves: clearing heat-toxin, benefiting defecation. Seeds: removing liver fire for improving eyesight and benefiting defecation.

Indications & Usage: Root: dysentery, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, toothache, dermatitis rhus, swelling and pain in scrotum, injuries from falls, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, leukorrhea. Stem leaves: dysentery, infrequent urine and stool, bites by snakes and insects, sores. Seeds: hordeolum, dark vision, whitish and turbid urine, hematuria, infrequent urine and stool. Roots: external application: appropriate amount, smashed for application, burnt for preserving nature of drugs partly and powdered for dusting or application mixed, decocted for fumigating and washing. Oral administration: decocting, 9-15g, fresh products 15-30g, or made as medicinal liquor. Stem leaves: oral administration: decocting 30-60g; or made as porridge. External application: appropriate amount, smashed for application or decocted for fumigating and washing. Seeds: oral administration: decocting, 6-9g; or powdered.

Examples:      

1. Dysentery with red and white feces before and after delivery: three-coloured amaranthus leaves (shortly cut) a bundle, rice fruit. Decoct amaranthus to obtain juice first, remove residues, add rice fruit and cook porridge, eat the porridge under fasting state, and the disease will be cured instantly.

2. Infantile lockjaw: pestle chixian to obtain juice, and wash affected sites.

References

- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk

- efloras.org

- theplantlist

- Tharun, Korlepara Nagavenkateshwar Rao, Sai Krushna Padhy, Sathis Kumar Dinakaran, David Banji, Harani Avasarala, Somsubhra Ghosh and Macharla Sravan Prasad; Pharmacognostic, Phytochemical, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity Evaluation of Amaranthus tricolor Linn. Leaf; Asian Journal of Chemistry; Vol. 24, No. 1 (2012), 455-460

- Tudor Fernando, GeorgeBean; Fatty acids and sterols of Amaranthus tricolor L.; Food Chemistry; Volume 15, Issue 3, 1984, Pages 233-237