134 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VorumE 21 
Brandesia Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 25. 1826. 
Mogiphanes Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 29. 1826. 
Bucholzia Mart. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 49. 1826. 
Steiremis Raf. Fl. Tell. 3: 40. 1837. 
Pubescent or glabrous, prostrate, erect, or scandent herbs or shrubs. Leaves opposite, 
petiolate or sessile, the blades entire or obscurely denticulate. Flowers perfect, bracteate and 
bibracteolate, capitate or spicate, usually compressed, the heads or spikes few or numerous, 
sessile or pedunculate, axillary or terminal; perianth sessile or stipitate, the stipe sometimes 
5-sulcate, the sepals distinct, unequal, glabrous or pubescent. Filaments united to form a 
short or elongate tube, this with 3-5 entire antheriferous lobes and as many intervening entire 
or variously laciniate or dentate, short or elongate staminodia, or the staminodia rarely wanting; 
anthers short or elongate, 2-celled. Ovary globose, ovoid, or obovoid; style short or elongate; 
stigma capitate; ovule 1, pendulous from an elongate funicle. Utricle membranaceous, inde- 
hiscent. Seed inverted, smooth; embryo annular, surrounding the farinaceous endosperm; 
cotyledons narrow, the radicle superior. 
Type species, Achyranthes repens L. 
Heads sessile, or a few inconspicuously pedunculate. 
Staminodia shorter than the filaments, entire or denticulate, or wanting; 
stamen-tube very short. 
Staminodia present. 
Sepals with rigid spinose tips. 
Stems erect or ascending; leaves densely pubescent beneath, 
the pubescence of branched hairs. 1. A. axillaris. 
Stems prostrate; leaves glabrous or nearly so; pubescence of 
simple beaded hairs. 
Sepals 6-7 mm. long, sparsely villous; leaf-blades usually as 
broad as long; staminodia dentate. 2. A, leiantha. 
Sepals 3-5 mm. long, densely villous; leaf-blades longer than 
broad; staminodia usually entire. 3. A. repens. 
Sepals never with rigid spinose tips. 
Utricle much shorter than the calyx; sepals 4 mm. long. 4. A. polygonoides. 
Utricle equaling or exceeding the calyx; sepals 2 mm. long or 
less. 5. A. sessilis. 
Staminodia none. 6. A. serpyllifolia. 
Staminodia equaling or usually much longer than the filaments, usually 
laciniate at the apex; stamen-tube elongate. 
Pubescence of branched or conspicuously hispidulous hairs. 
Leaf-blades mostly orbicular, usually as broad as long. | 
Outer sepals lanceolate, acuminate; leaf-blades 0.6-1 cm. long. 7. A. martinicensis. 
Outer sepals lance-ovate, acute or acutish; leaf-blades 1.5-3.5 
em. long. 8. A. portoricensis. 
Leaf-blades never orbicular, much longer than broad. 
Bracts, at least the outer ones, laciniately lobed; petioles equal- 
ing or at least half as long as the blades. 9, A. Bettzickiana. 
Bracts entire or merely denticulate; petioles less than half as 
long as the blades. 
Plants erect or ascending. 10. A. Watsoni. 
Plants prostrate or procumbent. 
Leaves glabrate, usually acute; outer sepals acuminate; 
heads little if at all longer than broad, ll. A. ficoidea. 
Leaves densely grayish-pubescent beneath, usually 
rounded at the apex, sometimes acutish; outer sepals 
acutish or obtuse; heads usually much longer than 
broad. 12. A. halimifolia. 
Pubescence of simple or fasciculate hairs. 
Leaves succulent; heads 0.6-1 cm. long, few-flowered; sepals 
glabrous. ; 13. A. maritima. 
Leaves thin; heads 1-3 cm. long, many-flowered; sepals pilose. 
’ Flowers white; staminodia entire. 14. A. obovata. 
Flowers brownish; staminodia laciniate. 
Leaf-blades abruptly long-acuminate, 11-17.5 cm. long; 
sepals 6-7 mm. long; staminodia pectinate-laciniate. 15. A. megaphylia. 
Leaf-blades acute to rounded at the apex, 5 cm. long or 
shorter; sepals 3.5 mm. long or less; staminodia 
Jaciniate only at the apex. 
Stems subfiliform; leaf-blades 1-2 cm. long, most of 
them suborbicular. 16. A. Urbani. 
Stems stout; leaf-blades 2-5 cm. long, ovate or ovate- 
oblong. 17. A. olivacea. 
Heads pedunculate, the peduncles elongate. 
Flowers sessile in the bractlets or nearly so. 
Sepals glabrous. 
