rarely adv. at e. seaports, Fla. and the Keys to Tex.; W.I., Bah. I. and n. S.A. 



2. Amaranthus calif ornicus (Moq.) Wats. 



Stems prostrate from a taproot, stout and rather fleshy, much-branched from 

 the base, 8-50 cm. long, whitish or tinged with red; leaves alternate, numerous, 

 pale-green, with petioles 2-18 mm. long, obovate to oblong, mostly obtuse, promi- 

 nently mucronate, the veins and margins white, 3-25 mm. long, glabrous, some- 

 times purplish beneath; male and female flowers on same plant, occasional flowers 

 perfect, in small axillary clusters; bracts lanceolate, acute, subulate-tipped, about 

 equaling the flowers; tepais in staminate flowers 3 (or 2), membranous, elliptic- 

 lanceolate to oblong-ovate, mucronate or erosulate; stamens 3 (or 2 or 1); tepais 

 in pistillate flowers mostly 1 (or 2 or 3), inconspicuous, one narrowly lanceolate 

 and acute or acuminate, the others usually reduced and scalelike; utricle sub- 

 globose, smooth, often tinged with red or purple, tardily irregularly dehiscent; 

 seed orbicular, dark-reddish-brown, 0.6-0.8 mm. in diameter. A. microphyllus 

 Shinners. 



Moist or wettish soils, in beds of dried-up lakes and ponds in the Tex. Plains 

 Country, July-Sept.; s. Wash, and Alta., s. through Ida. and Ore. to Calif., Nev. 

 and Tex. 



3. Amaranthus albus L. Fig. 425A. 



Stems stout, erect, bushy-branched, the branches divaricate or ascending, 2-12 

 dm. tall, whitish or pale-green, glabrous or sparingly puberulent or villous; leaves 

 alternate, with slender petioles 3-50 mm. long, slender, elliptic to oblong or 

 spatulate to obovate, 1-7 cm. long, cuneate at the base, rounded or mucronate- 

 cuspidate at the apex, prominently veined, the veins white beneath; male and 

 female flowers on the same plant, occasional flowers perfect, the staminate ones 

 few, in dense or loose axillary clusters that are usually shorter but sometimes 

 longer than the petioles; bracts green, rigid, 2-4 mm. long, oblong-lanceolate, 

 pungent-pointed and spreading; tepais 3, the staminate ones oblong, cuspidate, 

 scarious; pistillate tepais oblong to linear, acute, 1 -nerved, thin, green along the 

 nerve, often tinged with red; stamens 3; style branches 3; utricle subglobose, cir- 

 cumscissile, rugose, longer than the perianth, sometimes tinged with red; seed 

 lenticular, 0.6-0.8 mm. in diameter, mahogany-colored, lustrous. A. graecizans 

 of Am. auth. 



Waste places and cult, areas, sandy, gravelly or muddy banks and flats along 

 streams, throughout most of Tex. but exceedingly rare, N. M. (widespread) and 

 Ariz. (Apache to Mohave, s. to Cochise and Pima cos.), Aug.-Dec; widely dis- 

 tributed throughout N.A.; adv. in Eur.. Asia, Afr. and S.A. 



4. Amaranthus spinosus L. Spiny pigweed, quelite espinoso. 



Plant weedy, from a long (to 4 dm.) taproot; stems stout and succulent, erect, 

 branched, 3-12 dm. tall, bearing at most nodes a pair of divergent spines 5-10 mm. 

 long; leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to sparingly pubescent, 

 3-10 cm. long, narrowed to an obtuse mucronate tip, broadly cuneate to the long 

 petiole; male and female flowers on same plant, occasional flowers perfect; spikes 

 numerous, 5-15 cm. long, 6-10 mm. thick, the terminal one often wholly or 

 chiefly staminate, the basal part of each and the axillary clusters mostly pistillate; 

 bracts lanceolate or subulate, usually shorter than the tepais; tepais of the stami- 

 nate flowers lance-oblong, acute or short-acuminate; stamens 5; tepais of the 

 pistillate flowers 5, oblong or acutish, 1-1.5 mm. long; utricle 1.5-2 mm. long, 

 imperfectly dehiscent or bursting irregularly, the terminal portion spongy and 

 roughened; seed black, nearly round, 0.7-1 mm. in diameter, lustrous. 



In waste ground, sandy loamy soil, on sand-gravel bars in rivers and in low wet 

 areas, in e. third of Tex., w. to Dallas, Travis and Cameron cos., June-Sept.; 



861 



