N. O. AMARANTAOE.F, 
1050 
1035 . A. paniculatns, Linn., h.f.b.i., t\ t . 718 . 
Syn. : — A. fmmentaceus, Ham. Roxb. 663. A. Anacardann, 
Ham. A. farinaceus, Roxb. 
Vera. : — Chuko, Bath-u(B.); Rajagaro (Guz.); Rdjgira (Deed; 
T4je-khurus ; Bustan afroz (Persian) ; Chua marsa, ganhar. 
(H.) ; Kaliola-bhaji (Bomb.). 
Habitat Cultivated throughout India and up to 0,000 ft. 
in the Himalayas. 
A tall robust annual. Stem 4-5ft., striate, sometimes thicker 
than the thumb, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves 2-6 by l-3in , 
elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, acute or finely acuminate, base cune- 
ate, petiole as long as the'leaf. Spikes sub-erect, red, green or 
yellow, in dense thyrses squarrose from the long curved bracts, 
centre one longest. Bracts acicular, recurved, very much longer 
than the oblong-lanceolate acuminate sepals. Sepals 5. Stamens 
5. Utricle circumciss, top 2-3 fid. Seeds g 0 in. diam., yellowish 
white or pitchy black with a narrow thin border. 
Uses : — Used for purifying the blood and in piles, and as a 
diuretic in strangury. (Baden-Powell.) Used in scrofula and as 
a local application for scrofulous sores ; administered in the 
form of a liquid. (Watt.) 
Sir George Watt, in his Comml. Prod. Ind. (pp. 63-64), 
writes — 
It is one of the most important sources of Food with the hill tribes of 
India, and there are both golden-yellow and bright purple conditions. The 
former is more frequent and seems therefore to bo preferred; most fields, 
however, contain a few red plants among the yellow. It is an exceedingly 
ornamental orop : the hillsides on account of the fields of this plant, become 
in autumn literally goldeh-yellow and purple.” 
“ The grain has been analysed by Church (Food-Grains o/ Ind., 107-9) and 
the average of three samples gave the nutrient ratio at 1 : 5-8 and the nu- 
trient value 9Q. It has been estimated that one plant will produce 100,000 
grains. Speaking of another sample, which Church attributed to d. gavgeticus, 
but which may possibly have been one of them any forms of the present species, 
he remarks : “ The analysis shows that wo have in these seeds a food in which 
the proportions, not merely of albuminoids of total starch plus the starch- 
equivalent of the oil, but also of the oil itself, are very nearly those of an ideal 
or standard ratio.” Visitors to the hills of India are inclined to smile at 
people who live very largely upon these minute grains, but they might with 
advantage to themselves use this extremely wholesome article of diet. 
