190 CXVI. AMARANTACEE. (J. D. Hooker) [Achyranthes. 
Ovary oblong, subcompressed; style filiform, stigma capitellate; ovule 1, 
pendulous from a long basalfunicle. Utricle oblong or ovoid, indehiscent, 
top areolate or rounded. Seed inverse, oblong, testa coriaceous; embryo 
annular.—Species 12, all tropical or subtropical. 
* Outer sepal longest. 
1. A. aquatica, Br. Prodr. 417; tall, stout, finely pubescent, leaves 
elliptic-lanceolate acuminate, spikes elongate, rachis villous or pubescent, 
flowers } in. long, bracts small scarious, bracteoles orbicular, sepals rigid 
labrous, outer Tonger pungent. Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 673, and Ed. Carey 4 
all. ii. 497. A. natans, Ham. in Wall. Cat. <A. trichotoma, Perrott. 
Herb. Seneg. n. 180. Centrostachys aquatica, Wall. Cat. 6932; Mog. im 
DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 321; Endl. Iconog. t. 20. Celosia spinescens, Herb. 
Russel. 
NEPAL TERAI, Wallich. Assam and SILHET, Griffith, De Silva. TENASSERIM ; 
at Moulmein, Wallich. Crrcars and CoROMANDEL, Roxburgh.—DIsTRIB. Tropical 
rica. 
Stem 2-4 ft., as thick as the thumb below, straggling in the water and rooting 
along the banks of rivers, &c., branched. Leaves 3-6 in., narrowed into a petiole, 
-l in. Spikes 3-18 in.; bracts small, membranous, concave, long-acuminate from an 
ovate base ; bracteoles membranous, embracing the thickened perianth base. Perianth 
shining, very variable in size and thickness, base much thickened. 
** Sepals subequal. 
.2. A. aspera, Linn. Sp. Pl. 204; leaves orbicular obovate or elliptic, 
spikes rigid, bracteoles ovate halfas long as their spine or longer, stamens Dy 
staminodes fimbriate. Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 314; Boiss. Fl. Orient. 
iv.993; Roxb. Fl. Ind.i. 672, and Ed. Carey & Wall. ii. 496; Dalz. & Gibs. 
Bomb. Fl. 218; Wight Ic. 1780; Wall. Cat. 6924, excl. H. 
Throughout INDIA and CEYLON; an abundant weed in dry places. —DISTRIB. 
Tropical Asia, Africa, Australia and America. 
Stem 1-3 ft., simple or branched. Leaves 1-5 in., extremely variable, generally 
thick, pubescent tomentose or velvety, rarely glabrate; petiole short. Spikes 
usually with a robust rachis that rapidly Jengthens, sometimes to a foot long. 
Flowers 4-1 in., longer than the bracteoles. Staminodes fimbriate from the margin 
or from an appendage below the margin behind. 
Var. rubro-fusca ; leaves elliptic-ovate acute brown when dry. A. rubro-fusca, 
Wight Ic. t. 1778 (A. viridis).—Nilghiris, Wight. Ceylon. . 
VAR. porphyristachya; much larger, 4-6 ft., diffusely branched, leaves 3-10 in. 
broadly elliptic acuminate glabrous or pubescent, membranous, spikes with a more 
slender rachis. A. porphyristachya, Wall. Cat. 6925 ; Mog. l. c. 316. ? A. argentea, 
Thwaites Enum. 249.—In moister climates than A. aspera proper. Sikkim 
Himalaya, alt. 2-5000 ft. Chittagong, J. D. H. & T. T. Nilghiris, Wight, &c. 
Ava, Wallich. 
VAR. argentea; leaves silverily silky beneath. A. argentea, Thwaites Enum. 
249; Lamk. Dict. i. 545.—Thwaites mentions this as found at Caltura by Moon, but 
I have seen no specimens ; he includes under it A. porphyristachya and rubro-fusca, 
which makes me doubt his being Lamarck's plant, which is an European, Arabian 
and African one. 
3. A. bidentata, Blume Bijd. 545; branches slender rambling, leaves 
from elliptic to linear lanceolate acuminate glabrous or pubescent mem- 
branous, spikes very slender, bracteoles usually reduced to a spine minutely 
2-auricled at the base, stamens 5, staminodes toothed. Mog. in DC. Prodr. 
