ABSTRACT

The world has been experiencing a resurgence of interest in grain amaranth as a “new” crop in the last few decades. However, amaranth is an ancient crop that was already under cultivation 5000 to 7000 years ago. We have inherited a richly varied germplasm and cultural traditions that rival many major food crops, while relatively little is known about the genetic structure of the grain amaranths. The cultivated grain amaranths differ from their wild and weedy relatives by having pale, rather than black, seed coats and are superior for many cooking uses. While most cultivated populations have pale seeds, some populations have black seeds, especially those used for ornamental or vegetable purposes. Many morphological features of the cultivated grain amaranths overlap between species, but there are some emerging multiple character patterns that are useful for defining races within each species based on geographic origin and morphology.