64 AMARANTACE^. 



7. MOGIPHANES, Mart. 



(Telanthera, sect. Mogiphaaes et Brandesia, Moq.) 



Sepals 5, separated from the bracts by a short internode. Stamens 5, connate : tube 

 campanulate ; authers oblong; filaments alternating with the protruding simple teeth of the 

 tube. Stigma capitate. Pericarp utricular. — Flower-heads usually solitary, stalked, without 

 enveloping wool. 



8. M. Jacquini, Schrad. Perennial, downy or glabrescent ; leaves ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, pointed ; flower-heads long-stalked, globose, at length depressed, white, leafless ; 

 lateral bracts exceeding a little the calyx, keeled with a crest ; sepals villous towards the 

 base, tricostate, acuminate. — Jac. Ic. Rar. t. 346. — Gomphrena brasiliensis, Jacq. {non Lam.). 

 Telanthera dentata, Moq. (partim). — A high, suffrutescent herb: branches spreading, usually 

 terminated with 1-3 peduncles ; flower-heads snow-white, 4"'-6'" diam., internode below 

 the flower^'" long; calyx lj'" long. — Hab. Dominica!, Imr. ; S.Vincent, Guild.; Tri- 

 nidad (Sieb.) ; [Guiana!, Brazil!]. 



9. M. straminea, Mart. Perennial, downy or glabrescent ; leaves ovate or lanceolate, 

 pointed ; flower-heads long-stalked, globose, at length ovoid-oblong, straw-coloured, leafless ; 

 lateral bracts half the length of the calyx, or even shorter, subulate ; sepals villous on the 

 back, tricostate, acuminate. — Mart. Nov. Gen. 2. t. 135 et t. 131. — M. multicaulis, Mart. 

 Telanthera brasiliana, Moq..' (exclus. synon.). T. multicaulis, Moq.! — Nearly allied to 

 the preceding, but easily distinguished by the colour of the flower-heads, and the exserted 

 calyx : very variable in the shape of the leaves ; flower-heads, when flowering, 4"'-5"' diam., 

 at length 6"'-10"' long; calyx 2'" long, supported by an internode, which is not longer than 

 in the preceding. — Hab. S. Vincent!, Guild.; Trinidad !, Lockh., Cr., on dry ground; 

 [Mexico !, Brazil !, as far south as S. Katherine !]. 



8. IRESINE, L. 



(Tresine, sect. Rosea et Iresinastrnm, Moq. Alternanthera, sect. TrommsdorfBa, et 

 Gomphrena, sect. Serturnera et Hebanthe, Moq.) 



Flowers polygamous or dioecious. Sepals 5, in the female flower encircled by, and at length 

 enveloped within wool. Stamens 5 : basilar cupule usually toothless ; anthers elliptical. 

 Stigmas 2 (-3), subsessile (sometimes coadunate in a young state). Pericarp utricular, at 

 length irregularly bursting. — Flowers small, membranaceous, capitate or spicate: clusters 

 arranged in very branched panicles ; bracts membranaceous, usually concave. 



10. I. celosioides, L.,Moq.! Annual, suffrutescent or herbaceous, trailing; leaves 

 ovate, pointed, petioled ; flowers dioecious, spicate : spikes sessile, whitish, arranged in com- 

 pound, leafless panicles ; lateral bracts not keeled, concave, exceeded by the calyx ; sepal- 

 nerves 3 tor inconspicuous), evanescent below the top ; stigmas 2, linear, divergent. — SI. t. 

 90./. 2 ; Mart. Nov. Gen. t. 153, 154.— I. difFusa, Humb. et Bonpl., Moq.! I. polymorphs, 

 Mart . I. eriophylla, Moq., etc. — Stem slender, about 2'-4' high ; flowers \'" long : wool of 

 the rachis l'"-2"' long. — This is one of the most variable plants, comprehending perhaps all 

 species of Moquin's Iresinastrnm, though the West Indian forms cannot even be divided 

 into separate varieties. The amount of variability regards chiefly the following particulars : 

 — Stem weak and scandent, or woody below, glabrescent or glabrous ; leaves tapering at the 

 base, or subcordate, all ovate, or the superior ovate-lanceolate, deltoid or acuminate, glabres- 

 cent and ciliate, or pubescent, and with a dense, persistent down beneath, variable in size ; 

 panicle lax, spreading, 1' long and longer, or narrow and contracted to 1" length, terminal, 

 or with axillary branches ; spikes ovate or cylindrical, contiguous or interrupted, snow-white 

 or pale straw-coloured ; sepals linear, oblong-linear or oval-oblong, exceeding twice the 

 lateral bracts or shorter, glabrous, or pubescent below and on the back : their nerves very 

 delicate or prominent. — Hab. Jamaica !, Pd., Bancr., AL, Wils., March, common among 

 shrubs, 0'-4,000'; Antigua!, Nichols.; Dominica!, Imr.; Trinidad!, Sieb., Schach, Cr.; 

 [Kentucky !, Texas !, Cuba!, and Mexico ! to Brazil !, Peru !, and Buenos Ayres !]. 



11. I. elatior, Rich. Herbaceous, glabrous, trailing; leaves lanceolate, acuminate, 

 petioled j flowers polygamous, spicate .• spikes peduncled, pale-rufesceut, arranged in pyra- 



