Achyranthes.] ^ cxvi. AMARANTACER, (J. D. Hooker.) 731 
xiii. 2, 312; Wight Ic.t. 1779. A. Wightiana and A. lanceolata, Wall. Cat. 
6928, 6929. A. aspera, Wall. Cat. 6924 H. 
TEMPERATE and SUBTROPICAL HIMALAYA; from Kishtwar, Clarke, to Sikkim, 
alt. 4-6000 ft. J. D. H. KHasIA Mrs., alt. 4-6000 ft. BEHAR; top of Parus- 
nath, Thomson. The Concan, NinGHiRI and TRAVANCORE MTS., Wight, &c. 
CEYLON, abundant.— DrsTRIB. China, Java, Japan. 
Habit of A. aspera, var. porphyristachya, and leaves often as large, but the 
bracteoles are reduced to spines with scarcely a blade, or with a minute auricle on each 
side of the base, and the staminodes are not fringed. It may prove a form of that 
plant. Some Nynee-tal specimens, collected by Col. Davidson, almost with the 
blade of the bracteoles half as long as the spine, unite them in this respect. The 
very narrow-leaved forms (Waliichiana and lanceolata) occur in the Khasia and 
Himalaya along with the more typical, as they do in the Deccan hills. 
4. A. diandra, Rozb. Fl. Ind. i. 504; stem slender diffusely branched, 
leaves linear-lanceolate or linear glabrous or nearly so, spikes very slender 
pubescent, bracteoles of a spine as long as the sepals 2-auricled at the base, 
stamens 2, staminodes fimbriate. Centrostachys diandra, Wall. in Rozb. 
FL. Ind., Ed.Carey & Wall. ii. 504; Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 399; Wight 
Ic. t. 722. 
CEYLON ; common in the warmer districts, Thwaites. 
Annual or biennial, 12-18 in. high, very much more slender than any other 
species, Leaves 2-4 by i-$ in. membranous, green. Spikes 3-6 in.; flowers 
distant, 2 in. long, very slender. 
UNDETERMINABLE SPECIES. 
A. BENGALENSIS, Lamk. Dict. i. 459; Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2,317. Parony- 
chia bengalensis, Roem. & Schultes Syst. v. 521, not of Juss. Illecebrum bengalense, 
Linn. Mant. 213. 
A. SARMENTOSA, Vahl Symb. ii. 44; Mog. l. c. 318. 
16. AL TERNANTEERA, Forsk. 
Herbs, usually prostrate. Leaves opposite. Flowers small white, 
capitate; heads axillary, often clustered. Sepals unequal, anterior and 2 
posterior flattened; 2 lateral innermost, concave. Stamens 2-5, filaments 
short, connate into a short cup with or without interposed staminodes; 
anthers l-celled. Ovary orbieular or ovoid; stigma subsessile, capitellate 
(rarely 2-fid); ovule 1, pendulous from a long basal funicle. Utricle com- 
pressed, ovoid orbicular or obcordate, margins often winged or thickened. 
Seed inverse, lenticular, testa coriaceous; embryo annular, cotyledons 
narrow.— Species about 16, tropical and subtropical. 
1. A. sessilis, Br. Prodr. 417 ; branches many from the root prostrate 
or ascending, leaves linear oblong lanceolate or elliptic obtuse or subacute, 
sepals glabrous rigid acute, anthers 2-3, utricle obcordate. Mog. in DC. 
Prodr. xiii. 2,357. Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 996; Dalz. 5 Gibs. Bomb. Fi. 220; 
Wight Ic. t. 727; Wall. Cat. 6921. A denticulata, Wall. Cat. 6922. A. 
prostrata, Don Prodr. 86; Mog. l. c. 360, for the most part. Achyranthes 
triandra, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 1. 678, and Ed. Carey & Wall. ii. 505. Gomphrena 
sessilis, Linn. Sp. Pl. 225.—Rheede Hort. Mal. x. t.11. 
Throughout hotter INDIA and CEYLON in damp places, ascending the HIMALAYA 
to 4000 ft.—DISTRIB. All warm countries. . . . . 
Branches 3-18 in. long, glabrous, the ultimate with 2 lines of hairs; nodes 
Often villous. Leaves 1-3 in., in watery places even longer (4 by 1 in.), rather 
fleshy, sometimes obscurely denticulate. Clusters }—} in. long, white, hardly glisten- 
ing; flowers j,-, in. long. Utricle usually broader than the perianth, very broadly 
