AMARANTHACEAE

(Cockscomb family)

• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects:  •
• Adverse effects: Certain members of this family are capable of causing mechanical injury, others may induce contact sensitivity. Phototoxicity following ingestion has also been reported. •
• Veterinary aspects: •

This family of about 850 species in 65 genera is widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Many are intimately associated with man as pot herbs, as sources of edible seed, and as troublesome weeds. Some are cultivated for their attractive flowers.

Achyranthes L.

According to Willis (1973), this tropical and sub-tropical genus may consist of only 3–5 very variable species which have hitherto been considered to be up to 100 distinct species. Plants of the World Online now accepts 14 species.^a

Standley (1937) noted that the sharp bracts penetrate the flesh easily, as do the hooked bristles on the flowers.

^a https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:327359-2#children; accessed February 2025

Achyranthes aspera L.

[syns Achyranthes indica (L.) Mill., Achyranthes robusta C.H.Wright, Centrostachys aspera (L.) Standley, Centrostachys indica (L.) Standl.]

Burweed, Devil's Horsewhip, Mozotillo, Prickly Chaff-Flower

Standley (1937) and Standley & Steyermark (1946), who referred to Achyranthes aspera L. and Achyranthes indica (L.) Mill. as two distinct species, noted that the sharp tips of the sepals penetrate the skin easily if the plant is handled carelessly. The two taxa are now treated as distinct varieties,^a namely Achyranthes aspera L. var. aspera and Achyranthes aspera var. indica L.

Ainslie (1937) noted that in Nigerian traditional medicine, the ground root or flower-spike from fresh plant material is applied to bites and stings. He noted also that the root is a styptic. According to Rao (1981), the roots of this species are powdered, mixed with crushed snails, and applied by the Khasi and Garo tribes of Meghalaya, India to cure leprosy. A decoction of the roots has also been used with some success in the oral treatment of leprosy (Wade 1977). Giday et al. (2003) recorded that the juice from the freshly collected and crushed leaves of this climber are used in the traditional medicine of the Zay people in Ethiopia as an externally-applied remedy for skin wounds.

^a https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:2468-2#children; accessed February 2025

Achyranthes bidentata Blume

[syns Achyranthes fauriei H.Lév. & Vaniot, Centrostachys bidentata (Blume) Standl.]

Pig's Knee, Ruderal Chaff Flower

Achyranthes fauriei possesses sharp spines at the bases of the utricles (Kariyone 1971) and is thus a possible source of mechanical injury.

Alternanthera pungens Kunth

[syns Achyranthes repens L., Alternanthera echinata Sm., Alternanthera repens (L.) Link]

Burweed, Khaki Weed, Paper Thorn

Gardner & Bennetts (1956) include Alternanthera echinata in a list of plants known or suspected of causing dermatitis.

The khaki weed, Alternanthera repens, has been suspected of causing dermatitis in cattle (Webb 1948a).

Amaranthus L.

The pollen of some species, particularly Amaranthus retroflexus L., the pigweed, which is a common weed of cultivated ground in the USA, can cause pollinosis (Wodehouse 1971).

The common name pigweed is also applied to species of Chenopodium L. (fam. Chenopodiaceae) which co-occur as weeds with Amaranthus retroflexus, and also flower at about the same time (King 1966). Thus a report (Anneberg 1938) of keratitis attributable to entry into farmers' eyes of the pollen of "pigweed-red root" may have referred to the pollen of species in either or both genera.

Amaranthus blitoides S.Watson

Mat Amaranth, Prostrate Amaranth, Prostate Pigweed, Spreading Pigweed

This species produced positive patch test reactions in one of 50 patients who had "weed dermatitis" (Shelmire 1939a).

Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.

[syns Amaranthus bernhardii Moq., Amaranthus frumentaceus Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb., Amaranthus leucocarpus S.Watson]

Amaranth, Golden Amaranth, Love-Lies-bleeding, Prince's Feather, Prince-of-Wales Feather, Red Cockscomb, Trauer-Fuchsschwanz

According to Wren (1975) and Stuart (1979), a decoction of this plant may be used as an application in ulcerated conditions of the throat and mouth, and used as a wash for ulcers and sores.

Amaranthus retroflexus L.

Careless Weed, Redroot Amaranth, Redroot Pigweed, Rough Pigweed

This species produced positive patch test reactions in one of 50 patients who had "weed dermatitis" (Shelmire 1939a).

Amaranthus spinosus L.

[syns Amaranthus caracasanus Kunth, Galliaria spinosa (L.) Nieuwl.]

Prickly Calalue, Spiny Amaranth, Thorny Pigweed

The plant bears stiff, sharp spines in the leaf axils (Standley 1937b). The plant sometimes produces mechanical injuries (Pammel 1911).

Amaranthus tricolor L.

[syns Amaranthus gangeticus L., Amaranthus mangostanus L., Amaranthus tristis L.]

Chinese Amaranth, Chinese Spinach

Ingestion of Amaranthus mangostanus as a famine food has been reported to cause atriplicism, a syndrome presenting as a severe photodermatitis that may be accompanied by systemic symptoms (Cairns et al. 1968).

Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J.D.Sauer

[syns Acnida tamariscina auct., Amaranthus tamariscinus auct., Acnida tuberculata Moq.]

Roughfruit Amaranth, Western Water Hemp

The statement that contact sensitivity to Acnida tamariscina may occur in farmers (Waldbott 1953) appears to lack confirmation (Shelmire 1939a).

Amaranthus viridis L.

[syns Amaranthus gracilis Desf. ex Poir.]

Green Amaranth, Slender Amaranth, Tropical Green Amaranth, Waterleaf, Grüner Amarant

Patch tests carried out using the leaves of this species crushed in a small quantity of normal saline elicited positive reactions in 4 of 40 contact dermatitis patients tested in New Delhi, India (Singh et al. 1978).

Quisumbing (1951) reports the use of this species as a sternutatory.

Celosia argentea L.

[syns Amaranthus purpureus Dodoens ex Nieuwl., Celosia argentea var. cristata (L.) Kuntze, Celosia cristata L.]

Plumed Cockscomb, Feathery Amaranth, Silver Cock's Comb, Red Fox, Woolflower

In traditional Chinese medicine, the stalk and leaves of this plant, known as qing xiang (青葙), bruised and applied as a poultice, are used in infected sores, wounds and skin eruptions. The juice of the seed, qing xiang zi (青葙子) or Semen Celosiae, forced into the nostril is considered to be a cure for epistaxis (Stuart 1911).

Centrostachys aquatica (R.Br.) Wall. ex Moq.

[syns Achyranthes aquatica R.Br., Celosia spinescens Russell ex Wall.]

The genus is monotypic (Mabberley 2017). Oakes & Butcher (1962) include "Centrostachys spp." in a list of plants of the U.S. Virgin Islands capable of causing mechanical injury. However, Centrostachys aquatica is not known to occur in the Caribbean, so the plants to which Oakes & Butcher were referring might have been species of Achyranthes L., the genus to which many Centrostachys species have been moved.

Kumar & Narain (2010) noted that in North Central India, the leaves of Centrostachys aquatica are used [in an unspecified way] as a treatment for insect bites.

Deeringia amaranthoides (Lam.) Merr.

[syns Achyranthes amaranthoides Lam., Cladostachys frutescens D.Don]

The powdered root of this species may cause violent sneezing (Burkill 1935).

Froelichia floridana (Nutt.) Moq.

[syns Oplotheca floridana Nutt.]

Cottonweed, Prairie Froelichia

This species is listed by Shelmire (1940) as an infrequent sensitiser, but no clinical details are given.

Pandiaka metallorum P.A.Duvign. & Van Bockstal

This southern African species is known to hyperaccumulate copper and cobalt when growing in soils rich in these elements. Levels of up to 6000 µg/g (ppm) of copper and 570 ppm of cobalt have been recorded from dried plant material originating from Zaire (Malaisse et al. 1979). The contact sensitising capacity of cobalt and its salts is well documented (Malten et al. 1976, Cronin 1980). Copper is only a rare sensitiser (Karlberg 1983).

References

• Ainslie JR (1937) A List of Plants used in Native Medicine in Nigeria. Institute Paper No. 7: Imperial Forestry Institute, University of Oxford [WorldCat]
• Anneberg AR (1938) Corneal reaction to weed pollen. American Journal of Ophthalmology 21: 1265.
• Burkill IH (1935) A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula, Vols 1 & 2. London: Crown Agents [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Cairns RJ, Champion RH, Wilkinson DS (1968) Cutaneous reactions to physical agents. In: Rook AJ, Wilkinson DS, Ebling FJG (Eds) Textbook of Dermatology. 1st edn, Vol. 1, pp. 323-361. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications
• Cronin E (1980) Contact Dermatitis. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone [WorldCat]
• Gardner CA, Bennetts HW (1956) The Toxic Plants of Western Australia. Perth: West Australian Newspapers [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Giday M, Asfaw Z, Elmqvist T, Woldu Z (2003) An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Zay people in Ethiopia. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 85(1): 43-52 [doi] [url] [pmid]
• Kariyone T (1971) Atlas of Medicinal Plants. Osaka, Japan: Takeda Chemical Industries.
• Karlberg A-T, Boman A, Wahlberg JE (1983) Copper — a rare sensitizer. Contact Dermatitis 9(2): 134-139 [doi] [url] [url-2] [pmid]
• King LJ (1966) Weeds of the World. Biology and control. London: Leonard Hill.
• Kingsbury JM (1964) Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
• Kumar S, Narain S (2010) Herbal remedies of wetlands macrophytes in India. International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences 1(2): 1-12 [url]
• Mabberley DJ (2017) Mabberley's Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses, 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat] [doi] [url]
• Malaisse F, Grégoire J, Morrison RS, Brooks RR and Reeves RD (1979) Copper and cobalt in vegetation of Fungurume, Shaba Province, Zaïre. Oikos 33(3): 472-478.
• Malten KE, Nater JP, van Ketel WG (1976) Patch Testing Guidelines. Nijmegen: Dekker & van de Vegt [WorldCat]
• Muenscher WCL (1951) Poisonous Plants of the United States, 2nd edn. New York: Macmillan Company [WorldCat]
• Oakes AJ, Butcher JO (1962) Poisonous and Injurious Plants of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Miscellaneous Publication No. 882. Washington, DC: Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Pammel LH (1911) A Manual of Poisonous Plants. Chiefly of North America, with Brief Notes on Economic and Medicinal Plants, and Numerous Illustrations. Cedar Rapids, IA: Torch Press [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Quisumbing E (1951) Medicinal Plants of the Philippines. Technical Bulletin 16, Philippines Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Manila, Philippine Islands: Manila Bureau of Printing [WorldCat] [url]
• Rao RR (1981) Ethnobotany of Meghalaya: medicinal plants used by Khasi and Garo tribes. Economic Botany 35(1): 4-9 [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Shelmire B (1939a) Contact dermatitis from weeds: patch testing with their oleoresins. Journal of the American Medical Association 113(12): 1085-1090 (and unpublished table of results accompanying reprints) [doi] [url]
• Shelmire B (1940) Contact dermatitis from vegetation. Patch testing and treatment with plant oleoresins. Southern Medical Journal 33(4): 337-346 [url]
• Singh R, Siddiqui MA, Baruah MC (1978) Plant dermatitis in Delhi. Indian Journal of Medical Research 68(Oct): 650-655 [url] [pmid]
• Standley PC (1937) Flora of Costa Rica, Part II. Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series 18: 398-780+ix [url] [url-2]
• Standley PC, Steyermark JA (1946) Flora of Guatemala. Part IV. Fieldiana: Botany 24(4): 1-493 [url] [url-2]
• Stuart GA (1911) Chinese Materia Medica. Vegetable Kingdom. Extensively revised from Dr. F. Porter Smith's work. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Stuart M (1979) Reference section. In: Stuart M (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism, pp. 141-283. London: Orbis Publishing [WorldCat] [url]
• Wade A (Ed.) (1977) Martindale. The Extra Pharmacopoeia. 27th edn. London: Pharmaceutical Press [WorldCat]
• Waldbott GL (1953) Contact Dermatitis. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas
• Webb LJ (1948a) Guide to Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Queensland. Bulletin No. 232. Melbourne, Victoria: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [doi] [url]
• Willis JC (1973) A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns, 8th edn. (Revised by Airy Shaw HK). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat] [url]
• Wodehouse RP (1971) Hayfever Plants, 2nd revised edn. New York: Hafner Publishing Co.
• Wren RC (1975) Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations. (Re-edited and enlarged by Wren RW). Bradford, Devon: Health Science Press [WorldCat] [doi] [url] [url-2]

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