STAND ley: the GENERIC NAME ACHYRANTHES 73 



Linnaeus himself was responsible for the later misinterpre- 

 tation of Achyranthes, for in 1762 he transferred A. repens to 

 the genus lUecebrum, renaming it lUecehrum achyrantha; a pro- 

 cedure which, however, does not change the nomenclatorial 

 type of Achyranthes. He was the first, apparently, to apply 

 the name Achyranthes to the group of plants of which Achy- 

 ranthes asjiera is typical, a group which other writers had referred 

 to Amaranthus. 



Achyranthes, as here delimited, has several synonyms. Alter- 

 nanthera Forsk. (1775) was the first published. Others are: 

 Allaganthera Mart. (1814), Pityranthus Mart. (1817), Telan- 

 thera R. Br. (1818), Brandesia Alart. (1826), Mogiphanes Mart. 

 (1826), Bucholzia Mart. (1826), and Steiremis Raf. (1836). 

 Telanthera was maintained by many authors until recently, 

 being applied to the tall perennial species with pedunculate 

 inflorescence. If maintained at all, it could only be on these 

 habital characters. Some authors have attempted to separate 

 it upon the length of the stamen tube, amending the genus so as 

 to include some of the low annual plants with sessile inflorescence ; 

 but when this has been done Telanthera has included just as 

 diverse elements as the genus Achyi'anthes as here defined. 

 The form of the stamen tube and the length of the pseudostamino- 

 dia are not good generic characters, for all intermediate forms 

 can be found in species that are evidently of the closest relation- 

 ship. The genus Mogiphanes has some claims to generic rank. 

 It includes those species in which the flowers are manifestly 

 pedicellate inside the bractlets; but this character seems only 

 relative, when some of the species of other groups are examined. 



The published species of Achyranthes which come within the range 

 of the North American Flora are the following: Achyranthes axil- 

 laris Hornem. {Alternanthera spinosa R. & S.); A. leiantha (Alter- 

 nanthera pungens H. B. K., 1817, not Achyranthes pungens Lam., 1783; 

 Alternanthera achyrantha leiantha Seub., 1875); A. repens L. ; A. poly- 

 gonoides (L.) Lam.; A. sessilis (L.) Steud., 1840, as synonym; A. martini- 

 censis {Telanthera martinicensis Moq., 1849); A. portoricensis {Alter- 

 nanthera portoricensis Kuntze, 1891); A. watsoni Standley, nom. nov. 

 {Telanthera stellata S. Wats., 1886, not Achyranthes stellata Willd., 1797); 



