Xian Cai

Amaranthus tricolor L. (Amaranthaceae), edible amaranth or Chinese spinach, called Xian Cai, is a fast-growing annual herb 30-130 cm tall, cultivated throughout China and tropical Asia as a leaf vegetable. Stems are erect, stout, often grooved and tinged red or purple, glabrous to sparsely pubescent. Leaves are alternate, broadly ovate, rhombic, or lanceolate, 4-12 cm long, with entire or slightly undulate margins, an acute or obtuse tip, and long petioles; cultivars exhibit striking colour patterns of green, yellow, red, and purple, often variegated. The minute green to reddish flowers are unisexual or bisexual, densely clustered in axillary glomerules along the upper stems and in short terminal spikes, each subtended by small membranous bracts; the fruit is a small circumscissile utricle containing a single shiny black or brown lenticular seed. Used in TCM as a mild cooling food-herb to clear heat, resolve toxicity, support the intestines, and treat dysenteric disorders and red-and-white discharge; nutritionally rich in iron, calcium, and vitamins.