AMARANTACE^. 1G3 



2. A. ALBUS, Liun. Sp. PI. 2d ed. ii. 1404 (17(53). Erect, i^— 2 ft. bif?h, 

 rifjridly and widely branched from the base ; herbage of a light green, 

 glabrous or nearly so : leaves oblong-spatnlate to obovate, 3^ — 1^£ in. 

 long inclnding the slender petiole, obtuse or retuse, often crisped : 

 spikelets 4 — 5-flowered : bracts subulate, rigid, pungently awned, 1 — 2% 

 lines long, the lateral ones reduced or wanting : sepals oblong-lanceo- 

 late, 8ubulate-mu(!ronate, shorter than the somewhat rugose utricle : 

 seed I3 line broad, black and shining, very sharply margined^ — Too well 

 known in the prairie regions of North America, under the name of 

 Tiunble-ireed; only occasional in California. 



3. A. BLiToiDES, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 273 (1878). Somewhat 

 succulent, weak and prostrate, the branches often 1 — 2 ft. long, whitish, 

 the foliage of a rather deep shining green, glabrous or nearly so : spike- 

 lets few-tlowered and contractetl : bracts ovate-oblong, shortly acumi- 

 nate, about eqiial, 1 — l^-g lines long, little longer than the oblong obtuse 

 and mucronulate or acute sepals : utricle smooth, little surpassing the 

 sepals : seed % line broad, abruptly but rather obtusely margined. — 

 Very common in the Rocky Mountain region, where it is indigenous ; 

 becoming established along the railroad at Niles, Suisun, and perhaps 

 elsewhere in the State, but an immigrant. 



•M- -M- Sepals and brads only 1 earli to the fertile Jloirer. — Genus 

 Mengea, Schauer. 



4. A. Californicus, Wats. Bot. Calif, ii. 42 (1880) ; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 

 xiii'. 270 (1849), under Mengea. Stems stoutish and rather fleshy, 

 branched from the base, prostrate, the branches 1 — 132 ft. long, with 

 many short lateral branchlets : leaves obovate or oblong, 1 in. long or 

 less, including the short petiole, obtuse or acutish, with white veins and 

 margins : 11. green or purplish, in many small dense axillary clusters : 

 bract more or less scarious, little exceeding the utricle : sepals of stami- 

 nate fl. ;\i line long ; of the fertile shorter : utricle slightly rugose, 

 tardily circumscissile : seed 1.3 line broad, obscurely margined. — In low 

 and moist rather alkaline soils, from Monterey, Hartneg, to Stockton, 

 Sanford; also in the interior states of Nevada, Idaho, etc. 



2. NITROPHILA, S. Wa'.son. A low perennial branching glabrous 

 herb, with opposite amplexicaul tieshy leaves, and axillary subsessile 

 perfect bibracteate flowers. Perianth of about 5 equal erect concave and 

 carinate sepals. Stamens 5 — 7, joined at base into a narrow perigynous 

 disk : anthers 2-celled : staminodia 0. Style short ; stigmas 2, slender. 

 Utricle subglobose, iudehiscent, 1 -seeded, beaked with the slender style, 

 included within the connivent sepals. 



1. N. occidentalis, Wats. Bot. King Exp. 297 (1871) ; Moq. in DC. 

 Prodr. xiii''. 279 (1849), under Banalia. Stems erect from a decumbent 



