Detalle de: Characterisation of the Amaranth Genetic Resources in the Czech Gene Bank

waterhemps, and grain amaranths (Sauer, 1967).The origin of various species of cultivated amaranths is not easy to trace because wild ancestors are pantropical cosmopolitan weeds (Espitia-Rangel, 1994).For human consumption there are cultivated grain amaranths -A.caudatus, A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus and vegetable amaranths -mainly A.dubius, A.tricolor and A.cruentus.Grain amaranths are crop species of New World origin; A. caudatus from Andean Peru and Ecuador, A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus from Mexico and Central America (Sauer, 1950;Drzewiecki, 2001).Nowadays, the grain amaranths are cultivated from the temperate to tropical zone and the vegetable amaranths mainly in the South Africa