Amaranthus hybridusL.

Amaranth pigweedGreen AmaranthRed AmaranthSmooth AmaranthSmooth PigweedSpleen Amaranthpigweedslim amaranth

WFO wfo-0000530251 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata
fig. a Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-11-19 / obs. 169542258
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Josep Gesti
fig. b Josep Gesti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 152501238
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. c Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 145513869
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by o2k
fig. d o2k, CC0 1.0 / obs. 118922950
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Ruth Gutiérrez Oliveros
fig. e Ruth Gutiérrez Oliveros, CC0 1.0 / obs. 103520734
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata
fig. f Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 97535255
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Adriana Nelly Correa Sandoval
fig. g Adriana Nelly Correa Sandoval, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 70215323
Amaranthus hybridus, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. h Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 66407339

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Amaranthus hybridus is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Galápagos, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela AlabamaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaOntarioPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBelizeBoliviaBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruUruguayVenezuela DelawareRhode I.Galápagos
Native distribution of Amaranthus hybridus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 580 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -6.5 °C 6.1 °C 14.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.8 °C 26.6 °C 31.9 °C
Annual rainfall 369 mm 813 mm 1,783 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 9 mm 58 mm 268 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 580 research-grade observations of Amaranthus hybridus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 46 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Amaranthus aureus hort. ex Moq.
  • Amaranthus batalleri Sennen
  • Amaranthus bellardii hort. ex Moq.
  • Amaranthus berchtholdii Moq.
  • Amaranthus catechu Moq.
  • Amaranthus chlorostachys Willd.
  • Amaranthus chlorostachys var. hybridus (L.) S.Watson
  • Amaranthus cruentus var. patulus (Bertol.) Lambinon
  • Amaranthus eugenii Sennen
  • Amaranthus flavescens hort. ex Moq.
  • Amaranthus hecticus Willd.
  • Amaranthus hybridus f. aciculatus Thell.
  • Amaranthus hybridus subsp. hybridus
  • Amaranthus hybridus subsp. incurvatus (Timeroy ex Gren. & Godr.) Brenan
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. batalleri (Sennen) Carretero
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. bellardii Moq.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. chlorostachys Thell.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. chlorostachys (Willd.) Thell.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. densus Farw.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. hecticus (Willd.) Moq.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. hybridus
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. laetus (Willd.) Moq.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. prostratus Moq.
  • Amaranthus hybridus var. quitensis (Kunth) Covas

and 22 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.