probably trop. in origin; now abundant in warmer parts of the world, extending to 

 N.Y., Pa., Me. and Man., Ind. and Mo., often adv. farther n. 



5. Amaranthus Palmeri Wats. Careless-weed, red-root, quelite, bledo. 



Fig. 426. 



Plant very weedy, with an elongated taproot to 15 mm. in diameter; stems 6-10 

 dm. tall, branched at the base and much-branched above, glabrous to villous- 

 pubescent; leaves alternate, with long slender petioles, rhombic-ovate to rhombic- 

 lanceolate, 1-6 cm. long, acute to abruptly acuminate at the apex, cuneate or 

 rounded at the base; staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants, in slender 

 erect or drooping dense spikes or thyrse 15-30 cm. long, either all terminal on 

 leafy branches or (if leafless) branch thyrses present, these loosely arranged and 

 each subtended by a leaf; bracts 4-6 mm. long, twice as long as the perianth, the 

 midrib moderately heavy in the male, very heavy in the female, excurrent into a 

 spine; male flowers with 5 stamens and 5 tepals; inner tepals 2.5-3 mm. long, 

 obtuse or emarginate; outer tepals 3.5-4 mm. long, acuminate, with conspicuous 

 long-excurrent midvein; female flowers with 5 recurved tepals, each with con- 

 spicuous branched midvein; inner tepals usually 2-2.5 mm. long, spatulate, emargi- 

 nate, slightly denticulate; outer tepals 3-4 mm. long, acute, with a midvein excur- 

 rent as a rigid point; style branches usually 2, rarely 3; utricle 1.5-2 mm. long, 

 thin, subglobose, circumscissile, somewhat rugose; seed obovate, lenticular, 1-1.3 

 mm. in diameter, dark-reddish-brown. 



In silt, sandy and gravelly soils, river banks, valleys, arroyos, drainage basins, 

 irrigation ditches, swamps along streams, river bottomlands, about ponds, and in 

 dumps and gardens, in Okla. (Mayes and Ottawa cos.), throughout most of Tex., 

 N.M. (widespread) and Ariz. (Coconino, Yavapai and Greenlee, s. to Santa Cruz, 

 Pima and Yuma cos.), summer-fall; w. Kan. to Calif., s. to Tex. and Mex.; introd. 

 in Mo.; rarely adv. in e. U.S. 



6. Amaranthus arenicola I. M. Johnst. Sandhills amaranth. 



Plant with erect stems to 2 m. taU, whitish, glabrous, striate, simple or branched 

 at the base, branched above; leaves alternate, with slender petioles 5-7 mm. long, 

 oval-oblong to oblong-linear, 1.5-8 cm. long, rounded to acutish at the apex, 

 obtuse to attenuate at the base, yellowish-green, glabrous, the veins conspicuous 

 beneath; male and female flowers on separate plants, in slender dense or inter- 

 rupted spikes or thyrses to 4 dm. long, either all terminal on leafy branches or (if 

 a few leafless) branch thyrses present, these loosely arranged and each subtended 

 by a leaf; bracts usually 1.5-2.5 mm. long, lanceolate, acuminate, the midrib barely 

 excurrent; male flowers with 5 stamens and 5 nearly equal tepals about 5 mm. 

 long, the inner tepals emarginate or obtuse, the outer ones obtuse or acute, all 

 apiculate with dark midveins not excurrent; female flowers with 5 recurved 

 spatulate tepals, each with conspicuous usually branched midvein, the inner tepals 

 1.5-2 mm. long and emarginate or obtuse, the outer tepals 2-2.5 mm. long and 

 obtuse-apiculate; style branches 2; utricle 1.5 mm. long, thin, subglobose, circum- 

 scissile, rather smooth; seed round, lenticular, 1-1.3 mm. in diameter, dark- 

 reddish-brown. 



Sandhills, swales, dried ponds, lakeshores, river sandbars, marshes, fields, road- 

 sides and along railroads, in Okla. (Nowata, Cimarron and Alfalfa cos.), through- 

 out most of Tex. and e. N.M., July-Nov.; Kan., Okla. and la. to Tex., w. to Colo., 

 Nev. and N.M. 



2. Acnida L. Water-hemp 



Annual herbs; stems erect, glabrous, branched; leaves alternate, petioled, entire; 

 flowers in short panicles that form much more elaborate panicles or spikes; male 



862 



