62 CVI, AMARANTACEE (BAKER AND CLARKE).  [Chionothrix. 
into a cup by an acute sinus, without intermediate staminodes ; anthers 
with 2 oblong cells. Ovary ovoid, glabrous; style linear, as long as 
the ovary; stigma small, capitate; ovule 1, suspended on a basal 
funicle.—Shrubs. Leaves opposite. Spikes linear, 1-4 at the end of 
the branches. 
Species 2, endemic. 
This genus differs as to characters very little from Psilotrichum, 
Leaves 3—? in. long, obscurely pubescent beneath - 1. C. somalensis. 
Leaves 14 in. long, thickly tomentose beneath . . 2. C. latifolia. 
1. C. somalensis, /ook. 7. in Benth. et Hook, f. Gen. Pl. iii. 33. 
A grey pubescent shrub, nearly 10 ft. high. Leaves opposite; blade 
3-} in. long, obovate; petioles ;4, in. long. Spikes 5-7 in. long, with 
40-60 flowers, but sometimes very much smaller. Bract and bracteoles 
hardly 3 in. long, obscurely pubescent. Young perianth oblong, snow- 
white.— Hook. Ic, Pl. t. 2226 ; Schinz in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 
ili, LA, 111. Sericocoma somalensis, 8S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1877, 70. 
Nile Land. British Somaliland: Ahl Mountains, 3600 ft., Hildebrandt, 
1519! 
2. C. latifolia, Rendle in Journ. Bot. 1896, 54. A woody shrub, 
several feet high. Leaves opposite ; blade 14 by 1 in., ovate, obtuse, 
closely tomentose beneath ; petiole 4 in. long. Spikes 1-2 in. long, 
terminal and from the upper axils, forming a quasi-paniculate in- 
florescence. Perianth nearly as of small examples of C. somalensis. 
Wile Land. Somaliland: Shebele River, Donaldson Smith ! 
16. ACHYRANTHES, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f, Gen. Pl. iii. 35. 
Flowers perfect, solitary, 7.e. without sterile flowers or rudimentary 
bracts, each between 2 bracteoles, usually acute or spinescent. Perianth- 
segments + in. long or more, oblong, muticous or mucronate, glabrous 
(except in A. lanuginosa). Filaments 5, linear to the base ; the inter- 
posed staminodes quadrate, usually fimbriate at the top ; anther-cells 2, 
oblong. Ovary ovoid or obovoid, glabrous or minutely granular-papillose 
at the top; style linear; stigma small, capitate ; ovule 1, on a basal 
funicle. Utricle obovoid ; seed ellipsoid; embryo curled. Perianth in 
fruit deflexed, close to the rhachis, pointed vertically downwards.— 
Leaves opposite, petioled. Spikes linear-cylindric, in fruit often a foot 
long and (except in A. lanuwginosa) interrupted at the base. 
Species 6, in the warm parts of the Old World. .4. aspera, Linn., is a weed, 
wide-spread, and various subspecies have been carved out of it. 
Perianth glabrous. 
Bracteoles longer than half the perianth. 
Leaves 2-3 in. long . 1. A. aspera, 
Leaves 4—10 in. long z é . 2, A, bidentata. 
Bracteoles one-fourth the length of the perianth . 3, 4. aquatica. 
Perianth densely white-woolly . 4, A, lanuginosa. 
