Amaranthus hypochondriacus aka Prince's Feather

Amaranthus hypochondriacus, also known as Prince-of-Wales feather or prince's-feather, is an ornamental plant that is native to Mexico and belongs to the family Amaranthaceae. In Africa and El Salvador, it is valued as a source of food due to its nutritious leaves and seeds, which also contain phenolic compounds. It is a vigorous, upright plant that typically reaches 40-200 cm tall and is often grown for its deep purplish-red flowers that appear in dense, catkin-like inflorescences in the summer and autumn. The fruits contain smooth, shiny seeds that may be subglobose to lenticular, either whitish-pink or dark reddish-brown to black, and 1-1.4 mm in diameter. The leaves are rhombic-ovate to broadly lanceolate in shape, about 4-12 cm long and 2-7 cm wide, borne on long peduncles. Amaranthus hypochondriacus is a hardy plant that is suitable for USDA hardiness zones 3-10. It grows best in well-drained soils in full sun and is suitable for light (sandy), medium (loamy), and heavy (clay) soils with a pH range of acid, neutral, and basic (alkaline). It cannot grow in the shade and prefers moist soil. It is an annual/perennial plant that is in leaf from April to October, in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is monoecious and is pollinated by wind, making it self-fertile. Numerous cultivars of Amaranthus hypochondriacus have been selected, of which 'Green Thumb' and 'Pygmy Torch' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. As a rare houseplant, Prince-of-Wales feather needs regular watering to thrive and does best in long-lasting, direct light less than 1 foot from a window. It likes soil that is well-draining and shouldn't need added fertilizers if repotted each time it doubles in size. Prince-of-Wales feather belongs to the Amaranthus genus and is native to the Central United States to Mexico.