Amaranthus (haughty amaranth)

The plant has been cultivated for seed for more than 4000 years B. C. in North and South America, and in Europe amaranth appeared at the Turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was, next to corn, potatoes and beans, the basic crop of the Incas and Aztecs. Cultivated amaranth seeds have high nutritional value. The seeds do not contain gluten. The aboveground mass of the plants can be used as green forage, dried and silage. Moreover, amaranth belongs to the group of plants characterized by a specific mechanism of photosynthesis.