428 Amaranthaceae Amaranthus 



Flowers monoecious or polygamous, all with a calyx of 5, or sometimes 3, distinct, 



erect sepals; sepals persistent 2299. Amaranthus, p. 428. 



Flowers dioecious; calyx none in the pistillate flowers; calyx of 5 sepals in the 



staminate flowers 2300. Acnida, p. 430. 



Leaves opposite. 



Flowers spicate or paniculate. 

 Leaves woolly beneath, sessile or nearly so, of a narrow type; flowers spicate. . . . 



2332. Froelichia, p. 431. 



Leaves only sparsely pubescent beneath, with a long petiole, of an ovate type; 



flowers paniculate 2339. Iresine, p. 432. 



Flowers in dense, round heads, usually crimson or rose color 



2338. Gomphrena, p. 432. 



2292. CELOSIA L. Cockscomb 



1. Celosia ARGENTEA L. A cultivated form of this plant was reported 

 by Nieuwland as escaped in the foreign settlement in the west side of South 

 Bend. I have noted it from the roadside on dumps and in waste places. 

 We have had it in cultivation for many years and it maintains itself by 

 self sown seed. Before the mature plants are cut for burning enough seed 

 fall to sow themselves in abundance. There is no report that it is estab- 

 lished outside the sandy area about South Bend. 



Tropical area of Americas, Asia, and Africa. 



2299. AMARANTHUS [Tourn.] L. Amaranth 



Inflorescence of terminal or axillary, simple or paniculate spikes, glomerules of flowers 

 often present also in the axils of the leaves. 

 Plant spineless; utricle regularly circumscissile. 



Pistillate sepals usually shorter than the utricle, or slightly longer, acuminate or 



acute; main bracts mostly 2-3.5 mm long; spikes generally 6-12 mm in 



diameter. 



Bracts obtuse or acutish, equaling or up to one and a half times as long as the 



sepals, usually red or purple; sepals of pistillate flowers 1.5 mm long, 



obtuse or rounded at the apex; utricle subglobose, conspicuously longer 



than the sepals; seed 1 mm in diameter 1. A. cruentus. 



Bracts acute or acuminate, usually twice as long as the sepals; sepals of pistil- 

 late flowers 1.5-2 mm long, acute, or the inner rarely obtuse; utricle sub- 

 globose, equaling or shorter than the sepals, very rarely exceeding them; 



seed 1 mm in diameter 2. A. hybridus. 



Pistillate sepals obtuse or truncate, equaling or conspicuously longer than the fruit, 

 about 3 mm long; main bracts mostly 4-6 mm long; spikes generally 8-20 



mm in diameter 3. A. retroflexus. 



Plant spiny; utricle irregularly or imperfectly dehiscent 4. A. spinosus. 



Inflorescence wholly of axillary glomerules. 



Sepals in both staminate and pistillate flowers 4 or 5; utricle smooth; seed more 

 than 1 mm wide, usually about 1.5 mm in diameter; plants prostrate; leaves 



toward the ends of the branches scarcely reduced 5. A. blitoides. 



Sepals 3, those of the pistillate flowers acute or acutish, those of the staminate 

 flowers cuspidate, scarious; utricle rugose; seed about 0.8 mm in diameter; 

 plants stout, erect, with stiff, divaricate or ascending branches; leaves toward 

 the ends of the branches usually much reduced 6. A. graecizans. 



1. Amaranthus cruentus L. (Amaranthus paniculatus L.) Tassel 

 Amaranth. This is a garden escape to roadsides, waste places, and 

 dumps, which I have seen many times but never collected. I have no evi- 



