RAMDANA AND ANARDANA 



30] and tt-intlm (nrru kirai) a vigorous plant 



Love lies- 

 bleeding. 



Food-grain 



Kamdaiui. 



AM AR A NT US 



PANICULATUS 

 Grain 



Agri.-llort. Sac. Ind., 1869, x., 

 much esteemed by the Natives. 



i. I.IHO , Linn.; chtlu natui, etc., the smallest Indian BpocioH and 

 a weed of pinions throughout India. It is regarded a* a very wholesome p"t - 

 l>< rl> >|K-.-iiil!y suited for convalescents (Rec. Hot. Surv. Ind., ii., 187 ; Agri. 

 . I.e. 04). 



4. t. itino*ti. Linn.; Pharmacog. 2nd., iii., 138. The prickly amaranth, 

 t,i,luli>/<i. kante-tnath, etc., a woed of cultivation throughout India. Is used by 

 the poor as a pot-horh, ami in medicine is valued for its mucilaginous proportion. 



Hot. Surv. Ind., i., 207 ; Agri. Ledg., I.e. 64, 72.) 



5. .4. rtiiiit*. Linn.; choulaie, chaulai, etc., a weed of cotton soils, but 

 apparently nowhere cultivated. The tender tops are eaten (Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., 



I ; Agri. Ledg., I.e. 05.) 



Section B. Grains. 



A. caudatus, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., iv., 719 ; Duthie, Field and 

 (iiirden Crops, iii., 24, pi. IxviiiA. ; A. cruentus, Willd., in Roxb., Fl. Ind., 

 iii., 010. Love-lies-bleeding ; the kedari chua, ramdana, etc. 



This is fairly plentifully cultivated throughout the plains of India as a 

 uarden ornamental plant (and to some extent as a pot-herb also) much after 

 the same fashion as its near allies, the Prince's Feather (A. /ii//Hn-hon- 

 <h-i(ict<x); the Weeping-willow-leaved Amaranth (A. sfifir ifoli its) : 

 and the Cockscomb (Celonia cristate) all great favourites with the 

 Native gardeners. But A. ram/titus in India takes a further and more 

 directly economic position since it is cultivated by the hill tribes as a 

 regular field crop, on account of its GRAIN, the ramdana. The seed is 

 sown in May and June and the grain is harvested in October. In the 

 plains of Northern, Western and Central India it is also occasionally seen 

 as a cold-season crop being grown on the borders of fields. It is chiefly 

 distinguished from the next species by the obtuse tips of the leaves and 

 the long pendulous tails or spikes of the inflorescence. 



A. paniculatus, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., iv., 718 ; Duthie, Field Anardana. 

 and Garden Crops, iii., 23, pi. Ixviii. ; A. frumentaceus, Ham., in Roxb., 

 Fl. Ind., iii., 609; A. Anardana, Ham., in Wall., Cat. ; and A. farinaceus, 

 Roxb., Herb. This appears to be the anardana of the early writers but is 

 lif-t known as chua, chuko, ganhar, mdrsa, bdthu, etc. 



Cultivated on the Himalaya from Kashmir to Sikkim between the 

 altitudes of 3,000 and 10,000 feet ; also on the hills of Central and South 

 India and Burma, and on the plains of Northern, Western and Central 

 India, as a cold-season crop. It is one of the most important sources of important 

 FOOD with the hill tribes of India, and there are both golden-yellow and ] 

 bright purple conditions. The former is more frequent and seems there- 

 fore to be preferred ; most fields, however, contain a few red plants among 

 the yellow. It is an exceedingly ornamental crop ; the hillsides, on account 

 of the fields of this plant, become in autumn literally golden-yellow and 

 purple. It is sown in May and June and reaped in October-November, Seasons of 

 but in the plains it is not ripe until February to March. (Madden, Edinb. Heap!ng an 

 lim. 8oc,. Tram., 1858, v., 118.) 



It is not possible to furnish information as to the total production of 

 tli is grain. It is grown as a rule for local consumption and is hardly 

 if e\er exported. The grain has been analysed by Church (Food- Food Value. 

 Grains of Ind., 107-9) and the average of three samples gave the nutrient 

 rat in at 1 : 5'3 and the nutrient value 90. It has been estimated that one 

 plant will produce 100,000 grains. Speaking of another sample, which 

 attributed to A. yamjeticus, but \\hirh may possibly have 



03 



