This is a cultivated ornamental or "pseudocereal" (known as blood, red or purple amaranth) that occasionally escapes, but it does not appear to be persistent. There are records from BOON, FAYE (KY), JESS and PIKE (M). A. cruentus originated from hybridus, probably in Central America (FNA 4). The closely related cultivar, A. caudatus L. ("loves-lies-bleeding") is a popular ornamental and may also be expected as an occasional escape; its tepals are less acute and its style branches are more reflexed (FNA 4). Both cultivars (2n = 32 and 34) are closely related to hybridus (2n = 32) but differ in their more robust inflorescences, which are usually bright red to purple, and in their relatively large seeds, which are often white to reddish (versus just brown to black in related species). Another colorful cultivar, A. hypochondriacus L. ("Prince's feather") is widely grown in North America, but there are no reliable reports of naturalization. It has more stiff and erect inflorescences than caudatus or cruentus (FNA 4). Based on initial analysis of DNA, it has been difficult to ascertain a clear phylogeny for this whole "hybridus complex" (Waselkov et al. 2018).