320 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Amarantacee. 
find Gisekia pharnacioides common in the plains from the Peninsula to Saharunpore ; iit is 
also found in Egypt. Phytolacca, occurring in both North and South America, as well as 
in Africa, has also a species in the Himalayas, which Dr. Roxburgh having first obtained 
from Nepal, has named P. acinosa. This is also common further north, as on the 
Choor mountain; and as the leaves of P.decandra, though acrid, yet lose this quality 
by boiling in water, and are eaten in the United States; so are those of P. acinosa in 
these mountains. A bundle of them were presented me by the head man on my arrival at 
Gundooree, on the Choor mountain, which I did not hesitate to have cooked according 
to their own fashion, and found very palatable. 1 know not if this species unboiled, 
has any of the cathartic, emetic, or anti-rheumatic properties for which P. decandra 
is famed. : 
139. AMARANTACE. 
The Amarantacee, though differing in habit, are so closely allied, as scarcely to 
be differently characterised from Chenopode@ ; but they affect warm rather than 
temperate countries, and as stated by Dr. Martius, though rather rare under the 
equator, increase in numbers towards the tropics, where they occur in the greatest num- 
bers, with only a few species extending to much higher latitudes. Achyranthes occurs in 
Sicily and Norfolk Island; an Amarantus in S. and temperate Europe. They are 
common in every part of the plains of India, but unlike the Chenopodee, chiefly in the 
hot and rainy seasons. The genera are, Chamissoa, Alternanthera, Amarantus, Celosia, 
Gomphrena, Alternanthera, Achyranthes, and Pupalia, which are also found in America, 
and, except the two first, also in Africa, especially on the western coast, where rua is 
indigenous, as well as i in Arabia. Digera is common to India, Arabia, and Egypt, and 
Deeringia to India at New Holland; where are also found species of Amarantus, 
Gomphrena, and Alternanthera. Desmocheta, found in the: Isle of Bourbon, Java, &e. 
spreads northwards into India. Al/mannia has species in Singapore and the Indian 
Peninsula. Cladostachys is found in India and Nepal, and Centrostachys extends from 
the Peninsula to the Turraye of Nepal. Po/yscalis is peculiar to the mountains. 
Many of the same species are found in every part of the plains, and those common 
in the Peninsula may be traced to the banks of the Jumna; the few which are 
common to India, Arabia, and Egypt, are Digera arvensis, Arua javanica, and tomen- 
tosa. Alternanthera sessilis, Achyranthes fruticosa, and Pupalia prostrata, are found in 
India, and the west coast of Africa; as well as Amarantus polygonoides, which also 
extends to S. America, with Chamissoa nodiflora, Amarantus melancholicon, and 
Celosia margaritacea. C.argentea and cristata are common to India, China, and Japan. 
Deeringia celosioides has a very wide distribution, being found in New Holland, and in 
every part of India, especially along the foot of the Himalayas; and even ascending, 
with Arua scandens and Celosia margaritacea, moderate elevations, as the Suen range, 
above the banks of the Giree. A new species, D. Amherstiana, however, is most 
common in the vallies in this latitude. The species of Polyscalis are found at the. 
greatest 
