Variety
Amaranthus hypochondriacus
Lady bleeding, love-lies bleeding. pliewort, prince's feather, red cockscomb, spleen amaranth, flower velure, floramor, velvet flower

Botany
· A stout, erect, smooth, branched herb, 0.4 to 1 m high. Stems with slender axillary spines. The presence of spines differentiate it from kolitis (Amaranthus viridis).
· Leaves: glabrous, long-petioled, oblong to oblong ovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 4 to 10 cm long, obtuse, alternate.
· Flowers: very numerous, stalkless, green or greening-white, about 1 mm long and born in dense, axillary clusters and in elongated terminal axillary spikes. Sepals, 5 or 1-3, ovate to linear, often aristate. Petals, scarious. Bracts, linear, bristle-pointed and as long as the sepals or longer.
· Fruits: utricles, wrinkled, nearly as long as the sepals.
· Seeds, minute, black and shining.

Distribution
Found throughout the Philippines at lowlands and low altitudes.
A common weed on roadsides and wastelands.

Parts utilized
· Roots, stems and leaves.
· Harvest the root at any time of the year.
· Wash thoroughly, cut into pieces and sun-dry.
· The plant can be eaten as a vegetable.

Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects
· Slightly sweet-tasting, mildly refrigerant in nature. A good expectorant. Antifebrile, an effective astringent especially in stopping liquid bowels.
· Locally, it has been reported that a decoction of the root can cure gonorrhea and relieve one's breathing from acute bronchitis.
• Considered antidote, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, emollient, febrifuge.

Uses
Nutritional
Plant , especially the young leaves, can be used as vegetable, as a
spinach substitute.
Folkloric
· Decoction of roots has been used for treatment of gonorrhea.
· Bacillary dysentery, diarrhea, acute and chronic gastroenteritis, urinary tract inflammation.
· Fever, bronchitis.
· Lactation.
· Bruised leaves for skin eczema.
· Snake bites.
· Bleeding in piles.
· Dosage: Use 30 to 60 gms of dried material or 60 to 120 gms of fresh material, as infusion or decoction. For external application, employ decoction of fresh material as wash for ulcers and sores. Decoction also used as gargle for sore throat.
· Bleeding hemorrhoids: Uray can be combined with Verbena officinalis and boiled into decoction. To the decoction, add a small amount of vinegar and drink. Bleeding should cease the following day.
• Poultice of seeds used for broken bones.
· All amaranths are recommended for coughs.
• In Pakistan, roots are used for menorrhagia, gonorrhea, eczema, colic and as lactagogue. Leaves and roots used as laxative, on boils and as poultice for abscesses.
• In Taiwan and China, used for diabetes.
• In Nigeria, ashes from burnt plant used for sores; juice from plant used as eye wash. source
Others
Plant yields yellow and green dyes.

Studies
• Antifertility: Study that included the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of A spinosus roots was studied for anti-fertility effects. The results showed alcholic extract use in day 1 to day 5 of pregnancy showed significant pregnancy interruption, more likely with the alcohol than aqueous extracts.
• Antimalarial: Study tshowed the efficacy ofr AS extracts against Plasmodium falcifarum supporting its traditional use for anti-parasitic activity.
• Immunomodulatory: Study assessed the immunomodulatory effects of AS water extract and results suggested a heat-labile anti-apoptotic component.
• Hepatoprotective / Antioxidant: Study results strongly indicated potenty hepatoprotective activity in experimental hepatic damage in animals. Study suggests the protective mechanism to be from the presence of flavonoids and phenolics.
• Anti-diabetic / Spermatogenic: Study showed methanolic extract of AS significantly decreased blood glucose, comparable to glibenclamide. It also showed hypolipidemic effects and accelerated spermatogenesis by increasing sperm count and accessory sex organ weights. Results supports it folkloric use for diabetes.
• Antiinflammatory: Study of methanol extract of AS leaves showed antiinflammatory activity probably through inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis.

Availability
Wild-crafted.