Amaranthus dubius

Amaranthus dubius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Amaranthaceae
Genus:	Amaranthus
Species:	A. dubius
Binomial name
Amaranthus dubius Mart. ex Thell.

Red spinach, Chinese spinach, (simplified Chinese: 苋菜; traditional Chinese: 莧菜; pinyin: xiàncài), Spleen Amaranth (Amaranthus dubius), or Hon-toi-moi, Yin choy, Hsien tsai. It belongs to the economically important plant family Amaranthaceae.

This plant is native to South America and was introduced to Asia, Europe and Africa.

In Tamil Nadu (India) the plant is known as "Araikeerai". In general 'Keerai' means 'greens' in Tamil. In Telugu it is called 'yerra thotakura'. In Kerala, it is called "Cheera" (ചീര)

Usually it grows to a size of 80–120 cm. It has both green and red varieties, as well as some with mixed colors. The green variety is practically indistinguishable from Amaranthus viridis.

It flowers from summer to fall in the tropics, but can flower throughout the year in subtropical conditions. It is a ruderal species, usually found in waste places or disturbed habitats.

Amaranthus dubius is considered to be a morphologically deviant allopolyploid. It is very close genetically to Amaranthus spinosus and other Amaranthus species.

This species is valued as a leafy vegetable throughout South and Southeast Asia and also in Africa.

In Cambodia, it is known as "Ptee" (ផ្ទី) where the leaf is used in cooking and to dip in a sauce base call tuk krueng(ទឹកគ្រឿង).

In India it is known as Thotakura or Koyagura (Telugu), Cheera ചീര (Malayalam), Dantina Soppu (Kannada), Maath (Marathi),Bhajji (konkani), Chauli or Chavleri Sag (Hindi), Chalai (Punjabi), Kuppai Keerai (Tamil).

...
Wikipedia