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Amaranthus blitum; photograph (c) Jason Grant, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jason Grant, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-25

Amaranthus blitum L.

Purple amaranth; Guernsey pigweed; Livid amaranth; Least amaranth

Amaranthaceae · Bolivia, Peru +9

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Amaranthus blitum, photograph (c) Анна, some rights reserved (CC BY)Amaranthus blitum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAmaranthus blitum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAmaranthus blitum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAmaranthus blitum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedAmaranthus blitum, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 79 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.0°C
Record low -0.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,642mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
18–39DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September and November (October to March and May at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 9 records in 9 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Amaranthus blitum, commonly called purple amaranth or Guernsey pigweed, is an annual plant species in the economically important plant family Amaranthaceae. It has a number of culinary uses.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Amaranthus blitum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,151 mm of 1,547 mm) falls in October to March and May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.5 °C against a yearly mean of 19.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September and November.

Rain

1,547 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,151 mm of it October to March and May. Wettest month January at 223 mm, driest month August at 50 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,159 mm to 1,830 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,642 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,547 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.0 °C, the absolute minimum -0.2 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 10.7 °C to 13.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.7 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -113 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 9 records in 9 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Amaranthus blitum through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 12.5 °C; 1,547 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 18–39RH 63–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 9 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 24–3127 / 25–3026 / 24–2924 / 22–2622 / 19–2321 / 18–2221 / 17–2222 / 18–2423 / 18–2624 / 20–2725 / 22–2925 / 23–30
Night °C20 / 18–2321 / 18–2320 / 18–2218 / 16–2015 / 13–1713 / 11–1513 / 11–1414 / 12–1515 / 13–1617 / 15–1818 / 16–2019 / 17–21
Rain mm223 / 112–289192 / 120–211156 / 101–182106 / 58–187109 / 62–13068 / 41–12267 / 35–13150 / 28–105105 / 62–163140 / 97–179152 / 106–175179 / 123–222
DLI37 / 34–4236 / 34–3933 / 31–3526 / 24–3221 / 20–2618 / 17–2520 / 18–2625 / 23–3129 / 24–3534 / 30–3839 / 35–4238 / 35–43
RH %66 / 60–7066 / 61–7066 / 61–7065 / 62–7064 / 61–6963 / 62–6963 / 59–6863 / 57–6864 / 58–6965 / 60–7065 / 59–6966 / 59–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 9 grid cells holding the 9 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2259:2658 (-22.975, -47.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 9 distinct grid cells holding 9 of the 9 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2259:2658 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -23.00_-46.875, lapse-corrected -113 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 642 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Chile North, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Benin, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, St.Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, Altay, West Siberia, Amur, Primorye, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Xinjiang, Japan, Korea, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Society Is., Marianas, Hawaii, British Columbia, Ontario, Québec, Missouri, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, California, Utah, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Galápagos · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-29.394, -59.303 · in the densest population, 6 records (40% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 15 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 9 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 14 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1705 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 6 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 15 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Amaranthus blitum, photograph 1did not loadAmaranthus blitum, photograph 2did not loadAmaranthus blitum, photograph 3did not loadAmaranthus blitum, photograph 4did not loadAmaranthus blitum, photograph 5did not loadAmaranthus blitum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Анна, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Cecropia glaziovii Cecropia glaziovii Umbauba Photo: CC0, author not statedBillbergia amoena Billbergia amoena Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, fmunozAllamanda schottii Allamanda schottii Bush allamanda Photo: CC0, author not statedTillandsia stricta Tillandsia stricta Airplant Photo: CC BY, Bruno de MedeirosGoeppertia zebrina Goeppertia zebrina Zebra-plant Photo: CC0, author not statedRhipsalis elliptica Rhipsalis elliptica Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Yoannis Domínguez

Other Amaranthus 23 in the reference

Amaranthus albus Amaranthus albus White pigweed Photo: CC0, author not statedAmaranthus australis Amaranthus australis Southern amaranth Photo: CC0, author not statedAmaranthus blitoides Amaranthus blitoides Prostrate pigweed Photo: CC BY, Tatyana SovaAmaranthus caudatus Amaranthus caudatus Love-lies-bleeding Photo: CC BY, Evgenij SamarinAmaranthus cruentus Amaranthus cruentus Purple amaranth Photo: CC0, author not statedAmaranthus deflexus Amaranthus deflexus Perennial pigweed Photo: CC BY-SA, Pere BarnolaAmaranthus dubius Amaranthus dubius Spleen Amaranth Photo: CC BY, scallionsAmaranthus fimbriatus Amaranthus fimbriatus Amaranthaceae Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts Amaranthus floridanus Florida amaranth Amaranthus graecizans Amaranthus graecizans Mediterranean amaranth Photo: CC BY, Michael AndresekAmaranthus hybridus Amaranthus hybridus Green amaranth Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaAmaranthus hypochondriacus Amaranthus hypochondriacus Prince's-feather Photo: CC BY, Thomas Gyselinck all 24 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Albersia arenaria; Albersia ascendens; Albersia blitum; Albersia blitum var. oleraceus; Albersia livida and 64 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Amaranthus albus Rodschied and Amaranthus albus Rodschied ex F.Dietr. is an older name of this species, not Amaranthus albus, a species of the reference; Amaranthus polygonoides Zoll. is an older name of this species, not Amaranthus polygonoides, a species of the reference; Amaranthus viridis All. is an older name of this species, not Amaranthus viridis, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Amaranthaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Bolivia, Peru, Brazil West-Central +8
Wild records
15 in range · 14 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 50 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (27 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a herbarium, 17 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -23.00_-46.875, lapse-corrected -113 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 10619-2 is Kew's for Amaranthus blitum L.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 230 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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