AIZOACEAE. 91 



entire, undulate or crisped; flowers small, green or purplish, 

 mostly 3-bracteolate, in dense terminal spikes or axillary clusters; 

 calyx of 25 distinct sepals; stamens 2-5; fruit an ovoid or 

 oblong utricle, 2-3-beaked, with the persistent style. Mostly 

 pernicious weeds. 



Flowers in dense terminal spikes. 



Spikes green, stout, 8-14 mm. thick. A. retroflexus. 



Spikes purple, slender, 4-6 mm. thick. A. paniculatus. 

 Flowers in axillary clusters. 



Plant erect, much branched; sepals 3. A. graecizans. 



Plant prostrate; sepals 4 or 5. A. blitoides. 



Amaranthus retroflexus L. Pigweed. Stem stout, 50-200 cm. tall, erect, 

 pubescent, simple or branched; leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate, acute or obtuse, 

 obscurely crenate or entire, minutely roughened, 3-10 cm. long, slender- 

 petioled; spikes very dense, cylindric, erect, in large panicles; bracts subulate, 

 4-5 mm. long; sepals 5, oblong, acute, obtuse or emarginate. A weed in 

 waste ground. 



Amaranthus paniculatus L. Similar to A. retroflexus, but more slender; 

 leaves oblong-ovate or lanceolate-ovate, often purplish; spikes much longer 

 and more slender; bracts awn-pointed. Sparingly naturalized from Europe. 



Amaranthus graecizans L. Tumble-weed. Erect, pale green, much 

 branched, glabrous or nearly so, 15-60 cm. tall; leaves oblong or narrowly 

 obovate, obtuse or emarginate, 2-3 cm. long, short-petioled; flowers in small 

 axillary clusters; bracts subulate, spiny-pointed, much exceeding the sepals; 

 sepals 3, oblong-lanceolate, membranous; fruit roughened. A common weed 

 in grain fields. 



Amaranthus blitoides Wats. Very similar to A . .graecizans but the branches 

 prostrate, 30-60 cm. long; bracts ovate-oblong, acuminate, little longer than 

 the 3-5 sepals; fruit smooth. Apparently native, common. 



Family 34. AIZOACEAE. CARPET WEED FAMILY. 



Soft herbs, sometimes fleshy or succulent; leaves whorled or 

 opposite; stipules wanting; flowers small, regular, perfect, soli- 

 tary, cymose or glomerate; calyx 4-5-cleft or parted; petals and 

 stamens sometimes numerous, but petals often wanting; ovary 

 usually free from the calyx, 2-several-celled ; ovules numerous in 

 each cell (in ours) ; fruit a capsule; endosperm scanty or copious. 



123. MOLLUGO. CARPET WEED. 



Mostly annual, much branched herbs; leaves whorled, some- 

 times basal or alternate; stipules scarious, membranaceous, 

 deciduous; flowers small, whitish, cymose or axillary; sepals 5, 

 white inside, scarious-margined, persistent; petals none; stamens 

 hypogynous, 3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovary or 5 

 and alternate with the sepals; ovary and capsule usually 3-celled. 



