62 AMARANTACE^. 



Tribe I. CELOSIEAH. — Stamens united at the base: anthers 2-locular. 

 1. CELOSIA, L. 



Sepals 5. Stamens 5 : basilar cupule Short, toothless. Ovary mauy-ovulate. Pericarp 

 circumscissile. — Leaves alternate ; flowers spicate, with the persistent bracts coloured. 



Sect. 1. Eucelosia. — Style filiform -. stigmas 2-3, minute. Capsule included within 

 the calyx. — Spike compact, simple. 



1. C. argentea, L. Annual, glabrous; leaves usually lanceolate, acuminate; spike 

 long-peduncled, terminal, oblong-cylindrical, tapering at the top ; sepals much exceeding the 

 bracts; capsule ellipsoidal, pointed. — Desc. Fl. 4. t. 254. — C. paniculata, JDesc. (twn L.). — 

 Stem about l'high; spike silvery, l"-3" long: flowers large, 4'" long. — Hab. Jamaica!, 

 Dist., Alex., and Caribbean Islands ; [East Indies !, China !, tropical Africa ! ; east coast of 

 tropical America].. 



Sect. 2. Lestibudesia. — Style tripartite or trifid, or its divisions 2-4. — Spikes 

 slender, usually interrupted. 



2. C. nitida, Vahl. Shrubby., glabrous ; leaves ovate, acuminate, tapering at the base ; 

 spikes short, lax, axillary and terminal, subsessile ; sepals much exceeding the bracts; style 

 tripartite; capsule ellipsoidal, enclosed within the calyx. — SI. t. 91./. 1. — C. paniculata, W., 

 Moq. (non L.). — A virgate shrub, 2'-3' high; leaves petioled; flowers yellowish- white, 2'" 

 long. — Hab. Jamaica (67.); Antigua!, Nichols.; [Cuba! to Guadeloupe!; Texas!, Cali- 

 fornia !, Mexico !, Ecuador !] . 



2. CHAMISSOA, Kth. 



Sepals 5. Stamens 5 : basilar cupule short, toothless. Ovary uniovulate. Pericarp cir- 

 cumscissile : seed arillate. — Leaves alternate ; flowers clustered, with the persistent bracts 

 coloured. 



3. C. altissima, Kth. Shrubby, scandent, glabrescent; leaves ovate, acuminate, up- 

 permost ovate-lanceolate ; spikes terminal and axillary, slender, simply divided ; sepals twice 

 as long as the inferior bract; style filiform, bifid; capsule ovate-oblong, rounded at the top, 

 twice as long as the calyx ; arillus membranaceous, including the seed. — SI. t. 91. f. 2 ; Kth. 

 Nov. Gen. 2. t. 125. — Achyranthes, Jacq. Celosia paniculata, L., Sp. Ed. 2. — A shrub with 

 herbaceous branches, scandent among trees, sometimes 20' high ; leaves petioled ; flowers 

 greenish-white, H"' long: sepals and bracts keeled. — Hab. Jamaica!, Dist., AL, March; 

 Trinidad !, Schach, Cr. ; [Cuba and Mexico to New Granada ! and Brazil !]. 



3. ACHYRANTHES, L. 



Sepals 5 (-4). Stamens 5 (-4), alternating with the appeudages of the basilar cupule. 

 Ovary uniovulate : style simple, with the stigma capitate. Pericarp utricular. — Leaves oppo- 

 site ; flowers subsessile, usually arranged in elongated simple spikes, and at length reflexed, 

 cartilaginous : bracts mostly with a spinescent midrib and a membranaceous margin. 



4. A. asp era, L. Suffrutescent, downy or glabrescent ; leaves ovate or rounded ; spikes 

 elongated •. flowers at length distant, reflexed and appressed to the downy axis ; sepals 5, con- 

 nivent, glabrous, exceeding the spreading, spinescent bracts. — Sibt. Fl. Grtec. t. 244.- — A 

 suffrutescent, but perhaps annual herb, very variable in the branches more or less tetragonal, 

 the down, the shape of the leaves, the proportion of the calyx and bracts, and the length of the 

 bract-awns; leaves petioled ; spikes 3-12" long; flowers greenish. The varieties, as distin- 

 guished by LinnEeus, are well characterized in their usual extreme forms : but the greater 

 height, the woody texture, and the stricture of the nodes peculiar to tropical specimens may 

 be regarded as the climatic effect of a longer period of vegetation. 



a. argentea, Lam. Leaves ovate, acuminate. — A. aspera, a, L. ; A. aspera, var., Gr. PL 

 Carib. 



£. obtusifolia, Lam. Leaves obovate-subrotund, mucronulate. — A. aspera, j8, L. A. as- 

 pera, Moq. — This is the common West Indian form, but there is no constant difference in 

 the bracts or flowers, and intermediate specimens join it with a : Sieb. PI. Mixt. n. 412. 



