718 CXVI. AMARANTACEE. (J. D. Hooker.) [ Digera. 
394; Griff. Notul. iv. 949, and Ic. Pl. Asiat. t. 527; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. 
Fl.9218,f. 2. D. muricata & ciliata, Mart. Beitr. Amaranth. 77; Wall. 
Cat. 6886, 6887. D. ciliata, Mog. l. c. D. Forskalii, Blume Bijd. 542. 
D. alternifolia, Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. 180; Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 994. 
Desmochete alternifolia, DC. Cat. Hort. Monsp. (1813), 103. D. muricata, 
Wight Ic. t. 739. D. ciliata, Roem. & Sch. Syst. v. 553; Mart. l. c. 118; 
Wall. Cat. 6887. Achyranthes polygonoides Retz. Obs. ii. 12 (not of Heyne). 
A. Digera, Poir. Dict. Suppl. i. 2, 11. A. alternifolia, Linn. Mant. 50, 341; 
Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 674, and Ed. Carey & Wail. ii. 500. A. muricata, 8, 
Willd. Sp. Pl. i. 1193. Chamissoa arabica, ciliata, commutata & muri- 
cata, Spreng. Syst. i. 815. Cladostachys alternifolia, Sweet Hort. Brit. 
Ed.3,570. C. muricata, Mog. l. c. 235. 
BENGAL and N.W. INDIA in the plains to Peshawur and the Salt range. PEGU, 
Wallich. SovrH Deccan; the Concan, Mysore, and the Carnatic, Heyne, &c. 
CEYLON, N. part of the island. — D1sTRIB. Java, Affghanistan and Beluchistan to Arabia 
and N. Africa, 
A glabrous or ciliate slender annual, 1-2 ft. high, becoming perennial, with spread- 
ing branches, prostrate below. Leaves very variable, membranous, 3-3 in., ovate 
and acute or elliptic or rounded, base rounded or cuneate ; petiole 3-2 in., slender. 
Spikes 1-3 in., slender, axillary, long or short peduncled ; bracts subulate, persistent ; 
owers 3 in. in distant clusters, greenish. Seeds pale. 
7. AMARANTUS, Linn. 
Annuals. Leaves alternate. Flowers unisexual, small, in axillary 
clusters, or in panicled erect or drooping densely or laxly spiked clusters. 
Sepals 5 or 1-3, ovate oblong linear lanceolate or aristate. Stamens 1-5, 
free ; anthers 2-celled; staminodes0. Ovary compressed ; style short or 0, 
stigmas 2-3 filiform or subulate; ovule 1, erect. Utricle compressed, 
indehiscent or circumsciss, tip entire or 2-3-toothed. Seed orbicular, com- 
pressed, testa crustaceous; embryo annular, cotyledons linear.—Species 
undetermined, tropical and subtropical, a large proportion known only in 
cultivation. 
. * Bracts setaceous or awned, exceeding the 5 sepals. Stamens 5. Utricle 
circumsciss, top 2-3-fid. 
_ l, A. spinosus, Linn. ; erect, glabrous, stem terete, leaf-axils with 
9 spines, leaves long-petioled ovate or oblong obtuse, flowers in axillary 
clusters and long dense- or lax-fld. spikes, bracts setaceous equalling or 
exceeding the sepals, stamens 5, utricle rugose nearly equalling the sepals. 
Mog. in DC. Prodr. xii. 2, 260; Willd. Amarant. t. 4, f£. 8; Rowb. FL Ind. 
mi. 611; Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. 169; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 216; Wight 
Ie, t. 513; Wall. Cat. 6894. 
Throughout INDIA and CEYLON, in waste places, fields and gardens.— DISTRIB. 
Various tropical countries. 
Stem 1-2 ft., hard; spines straight, $ in. and under. Leaves li-4 by 3-2 in, 
base cuneate ; petiole slender, equalling the blade or shorter. Flowers M in. long. 
Sepals of male acuminate, of female obtuse apiculate. Stigmas 2.  Utricle with a 
thickened top. Seeds 4, in. diam., black, shining, border obtuse not thickened. — The 
plant varies in colour from green to red and purple. 
2. A. paniculatus, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. 2,1406 ; tall, robust, stem striate, 
leaves long-petioled elliptic- or ovate-lanceolate acute or finely acuminate, 
spikes in dense thyrses squarrose from the long recurved bracts, centre one 
