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The family Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family) is a taxon of dicotyledon flowering plants included among the Caryophyllales and containing about 65 genera and 900 species. Most of these species are herbs or subshrubs; very few are trees or climbers. This is a widespread and cosmopolitan family found mostly in subtropical and tropical regions, yet a few species are native to cool temperate regions. Most species occur in tropical Africa and America. Some species are considered weeds, but a number of others are popular garden ornamentals, especially species from Alternanthera, Amaranthus, Celosia , and Iresine . Notable members include amaranth and tumbleweeds.

The leavesThis article is about the leaf a plant organ. See Leaf (disambiguation) for other meanings. In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the chloroplast con are simple, margins entire, opposite or alternate, and without stipules. In most cases, there are neither basal or terminal aggregations of leaves. The flowerA flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms ( flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). The function of a flower is to produce seeds through sexual reproduction''. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, ands are solitary or aggregated in cymes, spikeA raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers (having short floral stalks called pedicels along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldests, or panicleA panicle is a compound raceme — a branched, indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches (in another words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes . This type of inflorescence is founs and typically perfect (bisexual) and actinomorphic. A few species have unisexual flowers. The bracteate flowers are regular with 4 to 5 petals, often joined. There are 1 to 5 stamens. The hypogynous ovary has 3 to 5 joined sepals. The fruit can be an utricle, nutA nut in botany is a one-seeded (rarely two) simple dry fruit in which the ovary wall or part of it becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity. Most nuts come from pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (do not open at matu, or circumscissile capsuleFlowers and fruit (capsules) of the ground orchid Spathoglottis plicata''. In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a dehiscent structure composed of two or more carpels that, at maturit, rarely a berryThis article is about the fruit. For other meanings, please see Berry (disambiguation). In botany, a berry is the most common type of simple fleshy fruit one in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp . The ovary is always superior in t.

Newer classification schemes, such as the update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny GroupThe Angiosperm Phylogeny Group is an international group of systematic botanists who have come together to try to establish a consensus view of the taxonomy of flowering plants in the light of the rapid rise of molecular systematics. The angiosperms or fl, include the Family Chenopodiaceae in the Amaranth family. Well-known species of chenopodes are goosefoot , quinoa, beet, and spinach. The main differences between Amaranthaceae and Chenopodiaceae are membraneous petals and stamens often united in a ring structure. Incorporating the Chenopodiaceae brings the number of genera to about 160 and the number of species to about 2400.

Most Chenopodiaceae are halophytes, i.e. growing naturally in salty soils. Since such soils are often dry, many show xerophytic forms, i.e. are adapted to dry soils. Therefore many have deep roots, such as beets. The exstipulate leaves are small to large, glabrous, hairy or mealy. The margins can be entire, lobate or toothed. Species of Salicornia even lack leaves and have club-shaped stems, giving them a cactus-like appearance. The flowers in this family are minute, arranged in spikes or cymes. In some species they are solitary and axillary.