Google search results -
Exposure to Oxalic Acid can cause headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, convulsions, coma and even death. ► Prolonged or repeated contact can cause a skin rash, pain, redness, blisters, and slow healing ulcers

 

As I recall, there's "curly dock" amaranth (some call it pigweed), and there's "grain amaranth. You may hate yourself for allowing curly dock to get any start in your garden or field. It is a perennial, with very deep and tenacious roots, plus it has thousands of seeds you can't possibly keep from spreading out of control with new seedlings.

From Web, MD: Probably referring to grain amaranth: AMARANTH: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews (webmd.com)

Personally, I would suggest getting a bag of the grain from Bob's Red Mill to see if you like eating it; looks like millet, birdseed to me--not much there. Dad would go out into the fields each spring and bring home a sack of curly dock and another bag of Poke dock. We would dutifully eat the bitter stuff, hoping the intended spring tune-up--really cleanout--wouldn't be too harsh the next day during school classes. Once in a while, Mom would sneak in a few sprigs of endive, like arugula. into the lettuce, just to please Dad. I would have not made a good Israelite, bitter greens at Passover would be pretty hard for me to take. I like rhubarb, but I don't eat the leaves. Just give me some Buttercrunch lettuce and I'll be okay.



geo

 

And there comes the issue of common names. Here curly dock is not an amaranth. Pigweed is amaranth. Curly dock is perennial, pigweed is annual. Both curly dock and pigweed are edible.

 

http://identifythatplant.com/what-is-yellow-dock/

Weed of the Month: Pigweed - Brooklyn Botanic Garden (bbg.org)

Okay, my bad; you good. Dock is, Rumex obtusifolius( yellow or bitter), Rumex crispus (curly). Pigweed is Amaranthus retroflexus Blame it on my Hoosier upbringing. We had odd names for a lot of things....

We also called burdock, cockleburs--go figure.

geo

 

LOL at burdock/cocklebur, Mom and I just talked about those Saturday! She was taught that burdock was cocklebur. To be fair, we didn't have cockleburs in the area 60 years ago. It might be a Hoosier term. She was born and raised only a few miles from the Buckeye/Hoosier border.

Years ago when I started developing an interest in wild foods and imported plants, I realized that common names mean different plants in different areas. But when I try to use the scientific name, people look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language. 😄

 

Latin is a foreign language to most these days. It used to be taught in elementary school. It was assumed to be a common language among educated people at the time that it was decided to adopt it to the taxonomical system. It is used in medicine, law, and biology. Another chapter in the sad state of our failed education system.

 

Most people don't study Latin and to them it is a foreign language. That is why I included the grinning emoji, I was making a joke.

 

When I was in high school I wanted to take both Latin and French classes but taking 2 foreign languages at the same time was as impossible as girls taking shop class.