Amarantus. | CXVI. AMARANTACEZ, (J. D. Hooker.) 719 
longest, bracts acicular recurved very much longer than the oblong-lan- 
ceolate acuminate sepals. Mog. in DG Prodr. xiii. 2, 957 ; Willd. Amarant. 
32, t. 2, f. 4; Wall. Cat. 6904, excl. F; Dalz. d Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 215. 
A speciosus, Sims Bot. Mag. t. 2227 ; Don Prodr. 75. A sanguineus, Lina. ; 
Willd. l. c. t. 9, £. 3; Mill. Icon. t. 22. A. strictus, Willd. l. c. t. 3, f. 5. 
A. frumentaceus, Ham. in Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 610; Mog. l.c. 265; Wight Ic. 
t. 720. <A. farinaceus, Herb. Roxb. A. Anacardana, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 
6903; Mog. l. c. 256. A. flavus, var. ô. bracteatus, Linn. ; -Moq. l. c. 258. 
Cultivated throughout INDIA and CEYLON, and up to 9000 ft. in the HIMALAYA.— 
DISTRIB. Cultivated or an escape in E. and W. Asia, and Africa. 
Stem 4—5 ft., sometimes thicker than the thumb, glabrous or puberulous, Leaves 
2-6 by 1-3 in., base cuneate ; petiole as long. Spikes suberect, red, green or yellow. 
Seeds jj, in. diam., either yellowish-white or pitchy black with a thickened rounded 
border, or pitchy with a narrow thin border.—I follow Moquin, Wallich, &c., in refer- 
ring this to paniculatus of Linnzus with some doubt, and I am still more perplexed 
about the synonyms I have cited, some of which may belong to the following species. 
Boissier says of A. paniculatus that it is an introduction from America, whereas this 
has been cultivated in India from time immemorial. Like the following, of which it 
may be a form, the seeds vary extraordinarily in size, form and colour. 
3. A. caudatus, Linn. Sp. PL 990; tall, robust, stem striate, leaves 
long-petioled elliptic- or ovate-lanceolate, tip obtuse, spikes in dense soft 
thyrses hardly squarrose, centre one and often the lateral usually very long 
ànd pendulous, bracts acicular longer than the obovate mucronate sepals. 
Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 9, 255; Wall. Cat. 6907; Boiss. Fil. Orient. iv. 
988. A. paniculatus, Wall. Cat. 6904 F. A. cruentus, Willd., Roxb. 
l. c. 610. A. caudatus and A. Alopecurus, Hochst.; Bouché & Braun in 
Append. Obs. Bot. ad Ind. Sem. Hort. Berol. 1872, 1. 
Cultivated in various parts of INDIA.—DISTRIB. Various hot countries, wild or 
cultivated. . . 
I find it very difficult to distinguish some states of this from 4. paniculatus. In 
its typical state it is a smaller plant with the leaves obtuse at the tip, more globose 
softer masses of smaller red green or white flowers on the thryse, the terminal spike 
of which is very long, thick and drooping ; the acicular bracts are shorter and not 
squarrose, the sepals shorter, broader, more obtuse and usually obovate-oblong, and 
the utricle and seeds aresmaller; the latter present the same variations as in A. pani- 
culatus. Bouché and Braun, from an examination of Abyssinian specimens cultivated 
at Berlin, point out the remarkable distinction between the two forms of seeds that 
this and the foregoing species produce, one white or yellow with a very thick rounded 
border (the true caudatus of old authors) ; the other lenticular and pitch-black wit 
a compressed border (A. alopecurus, Hochst.) The plants which bear them, ON 
ever, present no other differences, and I have seen the black seed with the thic 
border. 
** Bracts subulate, equalling or exceeding the 3 lanceolate sepals and 
utricle. Stamens 3. Utricle circumsciss. 
. . s 0 91. la- 
. A. gangeticus, Linn.; Moq.in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 261; erect, g 
brous, pes long-petioled ovate oblong or lanceolate obtuse or emarginate, 
clusters crowded in the lower axils and forming a long termina b 
bracts awned, sepals long-awned much longer than the nine ; d. 
Amarant. t. 6, f. 11; Rowb. Fl. Ind. ii. 606; Wall. Cat. 6 6, oS 
A. tricolor, Linn. Sp. Pl. 989; Roxb. l. c. 608, and Wall. at 02. 
A. lanceolatus, Roxb. l. c. 607 ; Wall. Cat. 6895. A. tristie, inn. e 
989? ; Roxb. l. c. 604; Wall. Cat. 6905, A. C; Grah. Cat. Bom Be 169; 
Wight Te. t. 713; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fi. 215. A. oleraceus, rni . de. 
605; Grah. l.c. ; Wight Ic. t. 715, and Thwaites Enum. 247, not of Linneus. 
Na SE uaa Si C 
