Indian-spinach

Amaranthus cruentus, the purple or red amaranth, is a tall, robust annual herb of the amaranth family reaching 1 to 2.5 m, with stout, often reddish, grooved stems. The large, alternate, long-stalked leaves are ovate to rhombic-lance-shaped and frequently flushed with red or purple. Its most striking feature is the inflorescence: dense, branched, plume-like terminal spikes of minute flowers, typically deep crimson, red, or golden, that nod gracefully. Each tiny flower yields a single small, shiny, pale to dark seed; a single plant can produce many thousands. Domesticated in Mesoamerica, where it was an important grain and ceremonial crop of the Aztecs, it is grown across the world both as an ornamental and as a nutritious pseudocereal and leaf vegetable, thriving in warm climates on cultivated and disturbed ground.