Quinoa. Chenopodium quinoa.
Botanical name:
Quinoa.—The Chenopodium Quinoa Willd. (Fam. Chenopodiaceae), is largely cultivated in Southern Peru and Southern Chili, often above the height at which barley and rye will ripen, for the sake of its seeds. These are about the size of white mustard seeds, but flatter, and afford a flour resembling somewhat oatmeal. The starch grains are very small, and constitute about 40 per cent. of the grain, which also contains 5 per cent. of sugar, 7% of casein, and 11 of albumen and other protein compounds. One variety, the red quinoa, contains a bitter principle in the seed husks, and is used to some extent as an emetic and antiperiodic. (A. J. P., 1872, 559.)
