Editing Quinoa (section)

== Description ==
[[File:QuinoaGrains.jpg|thumb|Quinoa seeds]]''Chenopodium quinoa'' is a [[dicotyledon]]ous [[annual plant]], usually about {{cvt|1|–|2|m|ft|0}} high. It has broad, generally powdery, hairy, lobed leaves, normally arranged [[Alternate leaf|alternately]]. The woody central [[plant stem|stem]] is branched or unbranched depending on the variety and may be green, red or purple. The flowering [[panicle]]s arise from the top of the plant or from [[leaf axils]] along the stem. Each panicle has a central axis from which a secondary axis emerges either with flowers (amaranthiform) or bearing a tertiary axis carrying the flowers (glomeruliform).<ref name="Lost crops"/> These are small, incomplete, sessile flowers of the same colour as the sepals, and both pistillate and perfect forms occur. Pistillate flowers are generally located at the proximal end of the glomeruli and the perfect ones at the distal end of it. A perfect flower has five sepals, five anthers and a superior ovary, from which two to three stigmatic branches emerge.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertero |first1=Daniel |last2=Medan |first2=Diego |last3=Hall |first3=A. J. |date=1996-09-01 |title=Changes in apical morphology during floral initiation and reproductive development in quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa'' Willd.) |journal=Annals of Botany |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=317–324 |doi=10.1006/anbo.1996.0126 |doi-access=free|bibcode=1996AnBot..78..317B }}</ref>

The green [[Ovary (plants)|hypogynous]] flowers have a simple [[Petal|perianth]] and are generally [[Self-Fertilization|self-fertilizing]],<ref name="Lost crops">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_iT0rAAAAYAAJ/page/n161 |page=149 |title=The Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known plants of the Andes with promise for worldwide cultivation |publisher=U.S. National Research Council |department=Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation, National Academies |year=1989 |isbn=9780309042642}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Reinhard |last1=Lieberei |first2=Christoph |last2=Reissdorff |first3=Wolfgang |last3=Franke|publisher=Georg Thieme Verlag |title=Nutzpflanzenkunde |year=2007 |isbn=978-3135304076}}</ref> though cross-pollination occurs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=R. |title=Amaranth, Quinoa, Ragi, Tef, and Niger |year=1986 |publisher=University of Minnesota}}</ref> In the natural environment, [[betalain]]s serve to attract animals to generate a greater rate of pollination and ensure, or improve, seed dissemination.<ref>{{cite book |title=Colour Additives for Foods and Beverages |date=4 February 2015 |edition=1st |url=https://www.elsevier.com/books/colour-additives-for-foods-and-beverages/scotter/978-1-78242-011-8 |publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-1-78242-011-8 }}</ref> The fruits (seeds) are about {{cvt|2|mm|in|frac=16}} in diameter and of various colors — from white to red or black, depending on the [[cultivar]].<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book |title=The New Oxford Book of Food Plants |author1=Vaughn, J.G. |author2=Geissler, C.A. |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199549467 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdKxFcen8zgC}}</ref>

In regards to the "newly" developed salinity resistance of ''C.{{nbsp}}quinoa'', some studies have concluded that accumulation of organic osmolytes plays a dual role for the species. They provide osmotic adjustment, in addition to protection against oxidative stress of the photosynthetic structures in developing leaves. Studies also suggested that reduction in stomatal density in reaction to salinity levels represents an essential instrument of defence to optimize water use efficiency under the given conditions to which it may be exposed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shabala |first1=Lana |last2=Mackay |first2=Alex |last3=Tian |first3=Yu |last4=Jacobsen |first4=Sven-Erik |last5=Zhou |first5=Daowei |last6=Shabala |first6=Sergey |date=September 2012 |title=Oxidative stress protection and stomatal patterning as components of salinity tolerance mechanism in quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa'') |journal=Physiologia Plantarum |volume=146 |issue=1 |pages=26–38 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-3054.2012.01599.x |pmid=22324972|bibcode=2012PPlan.146...26S }}</ref>