Amarantus.] CXVI. AMARANTACEE. (J. D. Hooker.) 721 
Wight Ic. t. 717 (bad); Euxolus caudatus, Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2,974; 
Wight Ic. t. 1773.  Albersia caudata, Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 992. Cheno- 
podium caudatum, Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 344. 
Throughout INDIA, in waste places. —DrsTRIB. All tropical and warm countries. 
Stem 1-2 ft., rarely decumbent below. Leaves 1-2 in., variable in breadth ; petiole 
equalling the blade or shorter. Clusfers lax, on slender branches; flowers gy in. long; 
bracts and sepals ovate-oblong, acute, membranous with a green keel. Styles 2-3. Seed 
j; in diam., pitchy black, border obtuse.— This is the A. viridis of Herb. Linn. A. 
fasciatus, Roxb., is a sport with a pale crescentic band across the leaf.—Eaten, but 
not cultivated (Rozd.). 
8. A. Blitum, Linn. Sp. Pl. 990; annual, erect or decumbent, glabrous, 
leaves long-petioled oblong-ovate or rounded obtuse retuse or 2-lobed, base 
acute, clusters all axillary or the upper in a dense or lax spike, sepals 3 
shorter than the utricle linear-oblong or -lanceolate obtuse and apiculate or 
acute, utricle orbicular or broadly ovate membranous dehiscent or not. 
Waste places throughout INDIA and CEYLON. —DISTRIB. temperate and tropical 
regions. 
"1 find it impossible satisfactorily to discriminate the Indian forms of this variable 
weed from one another, and from 44. polygamus ; I recognize the following varieties as 
more or less constant. 
A. Blitum, Linn. Herb. ; procumbent, leaves small 2-lobed, sepals oblong obtuse 
apiculate, clusters small all axillary, utricle indehiscent (A. Blitum, Herb. Fries e 
Scania). A tristis, Wall. Cat. 6905 D. —4A weed, not cultivated. 
Var. A. oleraceus, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1403; tall, succulent, usually erect, leaves ovate 
oblong or rounded, top rounded or 2-lobed, clusters axillary and in terminal simple 
or lobed spikes, sepals linear-oblong obtuse or acute, utricle indehiscent. Willd. 
Amarant. t. 5, f. 9. A.adscendens, Reichb. Ic. Crit. v. t. 472 (by error spicatus). A. 
gangeticus, Wall. Cat. 6896 C. A. polygamus, Wall. Cat. 6899 D. Euxolus oleraceus, 
lividus & viridis, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 273. E. oleraceus, Dalz. g Gibs. Bomb. 
Fl. 216. Albersia oleracea & livida, Kunth Fl. Berol. ii. 144. Pyxidium oleraceum, 
lividum & viride, Moench Meth. 359.—Cultivated in India and elsewhere.—I find this 
in the Kew Herbarium as A. Blitum, Japan (Maximov.) ; Geneva (Herb. Boiss.); A. 
lividus, Hort. Petrop. ; A. adscendens, Hort. Petrop. and Herb. Requien; 4. Blitum, 
var. adscendens, Herb. Gay ; and A. miniatus, Hort. Avignon and Monsp. 
Var. A. sylvestris, Desf. Cat. Hort. Par. 41 ; erect, simple or branched, leaves 
oblong or obovate-oblong obtuse, clusters all axillary sessile, sepals linear keeled 
mucronate, utricle rugose or smooth circumsciss. Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 990. A. 
Blitum, var. sylvestris, Mog. l. c. 263.—Kashmir, alt. 4-6000 ft., Thomson (Europ., 
Asiat.). 
9. A. polygamus, Linn. Amen. Acad. iv. 294 (not of Roxb.); stem 
prostrate ^ ascending, leaves small obovate oblong or ovate obtuse rarely 
retuse or 2-lobed, often rigid and apiculate, clusters all axillary, sepals 3 as 
long as the utricle or shorter subulate acuminate, utricle ovoid rugose 
dehiscent or not. Thwaites Enum. 247. A. polygonoides, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 
iii. 602; Wight Ic. t. 512, 719; Wall. Cat. 6906. A. Blitum, var. poly- 
gonoides, Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 263. A. tenuifolius, Wall, Cat. 6893 E. 
Amblogyna polygonoides, Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. FT. 219. Albersia po y- 
gama, Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 991. Euxolus polygamus, Mog. in . Prodr. 
l. c. 272; Thwaites Enum. 248, excl. syn. Amblogyne. u 
, 1 LON, abundant.—DisTRIB, All hot countries. 
Tcl that this dum only be ranked as a form of 4. Blitum (the Linnean form), 
with small usually obovate apiculate leaves, fewer flowers in a cluster, often larger 
aller more acute utricles. . . 
oan. Ato maan terns and branches angled grooved rigid erect or ascending, 
leaves linear or linear-oblong more rigid.— The Panjab, Thomson. Mooltan, Edge- 
VOL. IV. 
