Amaranthaceae
| Amaranthaceae | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Amaranthus retroflexus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Core eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: |
Amaranthaceae Juss. |
| Type genus | |
|
Amaranthus L. |
|
| Subfamilies | |
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants known as the amaranth family. It now includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae, and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species. making it the most species-rich lineage within the flowering plant order of Caryophyllales.
Most of these species are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, some are shrubs; very few species are vines or trees. Some species are succulent. Many species have stems with thickened nodes. The wood of the perennial stem has a typical "anomalous" secondary growth, only in subfamily Polycnemoideae is secondary growth normal.
The leaves are mostly alternate, sometimes opposite. They never possess stipules. The simple leaves are flat or terete, their shape is extremely variable, with entire or toothed margins. In some species, the leaves are reduced to minute scales. In most cases, neither basal or terminal aggregations of leaves occur.
The flowers are solitary or aggregated in cymes, spikes, or panicles and typically perfect (bisexual) and actinomorphic. Some species have unisexual flowers. Bracts and bracteoles are either herbaceous or scarious. Flowers are regular with a herbaceous or scarious perianth of (one to) mostly five (rarely to eight) tepals, often joined. One to five stamens are opposite to tepals or alternating, inserting from a hypogynous disc, which may have appendages (pseudostaminodes) in some species. The anthers have two or four pollen sacs (locules). In tribe Caroxyloneae, antheres have vesicular appendages. The pollen grains are spherical with many pores (pantoporate), with pore numbers from a few to 250 (in Froelichia). One to three (rarely six) carpels are fused to a superior ovary with one (rarely two) basal ovule.
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Wikipedia