Achyranthes.] CVI, AMARANTACES (BAKER AND CLARKE). 63 
1. A. aspera, Zinn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 204, ed. ii. 295. An erect, 
hairy herb, 1-4 ft. high. Leaves opposite, petioled; blade 2-3 in. 
long, elliptic, narrowed at either end. Spikes in flower 2-4 in. long, 
dense ; in fruit usually much elongated, up to 12-18 in. long, with the 
lower flowers distant. Perianth }-4 in. long; segments lanceolate, 
mucronate, glabrous; bracteoles 4 or 3 the length of the perianth, 
appearing as simple spines, really springing from a small quadrate 
or emarginate base. Staminodes quadrate, fimbriate. Ovary obovoid, 
the top depressed hemispherical granular-tubercular. Perianth in 
fruit rigidly deflexed close to the rhachis, becoming very hard.— 
Mogquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 314; Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. 493; A. 
Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 215; Garcke in Peters, Reise Mossamb. Bot. 
503; T. Thoms. in Speke, Nile, Append. 646; Oliver in Trans. Linn. 
Soc. xxix, 141; Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. Fl, Aethiop. 172; Boiss. 
Fl. Orient, iv. 993; Schinzin Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iii. 1A, 112, 
and 94, fig. 47, D, E, in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append. ii. 165, in v. 
Append. iii. 66,in Engl. Pf. Ost-Afr. C. 173; Engl. Hochgebirgsfi. 
Trop. Afr. 208; Durand & Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, 234; Durand & 
De Wild. in Comptes-rendus Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvi. 85; Hiern in Cat. 
Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 893; Lopr. in Engl. Jahrb. xxx. 12, t. 1, fig. G-J ; 
Gilg in Baum, Kunene-Samb. Exped. 232, 433. 
Upper Guinea. Senegal, Sieber, 57! Roger, 26! Gold: Coast: Assin Yan 
Kumassi, Cummins, 175! Southern Nigeria: Ikirun, Mill/son, 119! Lagos, 
Millen, 101! 
Nile Land. Eritrea: various localities, Hildebrandt, 652! Steudner, 658! 
Schweinfurth & Riva, 94, 177, 231, 1025! 1053, 1156, 1646. Galabat: Matamma, 
Schweinfurth, 646 ! Abyssinia: various localities, Schimper, 193! 209! 1234! 
Quartin-Dillon G Petit! Salt! Somaliland: various localities, Mrs. Lort 
Phillips! Miss Edith Cole! Hildebrandt, 1520! Donaldson Smith! Sevnar, 
Schweinfurth, 644! White Nile, Petherick! Kordofan, Kotschy, 415! Pfund, 
286! 876! Darfur, Purdy,6! Blue Nile, Muriel, 32! Broun, 724! Khartoum, 
Broun, 476! Bahr el Jebel, Muriel, 71! Bahr el Ghazal; Nuer Country, Speke 
§ Grant, 768! Moru: Neangara, Murie/ Uganda: various localities, Scott-Elliot, 
6942! 7248! 7753! James! Mahon! Brown,66! Bagshawe, 242! 457! British 
East Africa: various localities, Thomas, 74! Whyte! Gregory ! Powell, 13! 
Lower Guinea. Lower Congo: near the mouth, Smith, 7! Stanley Pool, 
Hens, B, 28! Angola: various localities, Welwitsch, 6492! 6499! 6510! 6530! 
65308 ! 65478! 6548! 6576! German South-west Africa : Hereroland, Belek, 43, 
Fleck, 491, 532, 561; Rehoboth, Schinz, 12, Fleck, 175A. 
South Central. Congo Free State: Mtowa, Descamps. 
Mozamb. Dist. Zanzibar, Hildebrandt, 1150! German East Africa: 
Kilimanjaro, Volkens, 678! 1390! Amboni, Holst, 26944! Kwa Mshuza, Holst, 
9086! Mininga, Speke & Grant, 184! Usambara, Holst, 8719! Portuguese East 
Africa: east coast of Lake N yasa, Johnson, 144! Lower Zambesi, near Sena and 
at Shupanga, Kirk! British Central Africa: near Lake Moero, Carson, 7! 
Rhodesia ; Tamafopa, Holub ! 
An abundant weed in the hotter parts of the Old World. 
_ Var. 8 argentea, C. B. Cl. ; leaves silky strigose beneath with white hairs, often 
silvery; perianth frequently smaller than in the type.—<A. argentea, Lam. Encycl. 
1. 545; Benth. in Hook, Niger Fl. 493; Hook. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 214; 
Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 315; Zarb in Cat, Spéc. Bot. Pfund, 33; Engl. in 
Hans Meyer, East Afr. 368. 
