Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme

NTFP Product Database

Product Details

Pungai kirai PRODUCT NAME

Amaranthus paniculatus L. syn Amaranthus hybridus L. subsp. incurvatus (Gren. & Gdr.) Brenan var. paniculatus (L.) Mansf.  SCIENTIFIC NAME

Common Name: Pungai kirai
Local Name: Polka Baji (Durva); Chua (Hindi); Pungai kirai (Tamil). 
Family: Amaranthaceae
Other Species of Same Genera:
Product Description: An erect or ascending herb, variously colored, up to 2m high, with stout, striate, branched stems, angular. Leaves ovate, elliptic or rhomboid-elliptic. up to 20 x 10cm , mucronate at apex, rounded at base, minutely dotted beneath; petioles up to 15cm long; secondary nerves about 10, without including the shorter intermediates. Flowers in axillary and terminal spikes, male and female flowers intermixed; bracts and bracteoles deltoid-ovate to deltoid-lanceolate. Tepals 5; capsules circumscissile, lid smooth. Seeds compressed, black 
NTFP Classification: Food and food ingredients (plant-derived) 

DISTRIBUTION

Countries Found: India 
Description: Common

USES AND PARTS USED

Parts Used: leaves, leaflets, stems 
Uses: Tender leaves and stems eaten
Origin:
Management Practices:
Market Information:
Partners: IUCN

PARTNERS INVOLVED IN ACTIVITIES CONCERNING THIS NTFP

Duration:
Activity:
External Links:
RETURN TO LISTING