380 AMARANTACE^. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 



fuse stems, alternate mostly petioled entire mucronate leaves, and greenish or 

 purplish flowers, crowded in axillary and terminal spikes or clusters. Bracts 

 longer than the sepals. 



* Flowers in small axillary clusters : sepals and stamens 3. 



1. A. albUS, L. Stem erect, branching from the base, smooth; leaves 

 small, long-petioled, oblong-obovate, very obtuse or emarginate, wavy at the 

 margins ; clusters shorter than the petioles ; sepals awl-pointed, much shorter 

 than the subulate spine-pointed spreading bracts, and half as long as the rugose 

 utricle. — Cultivated grounds, Tlorida, and northward. May - Sept. — Stem 1° 

 high. Leaves ^' - 1 ' long. 



* * Flowers (green) crowded in terminal and axillary spikes: sepals and stamens 

 5 : leaves long-petioled. 



2. A. Chlorostaehys, Willd. Stem erect, furrowed, pubescent ; leaves 

 ovate or rhombic-ovate, obtuse, or the upper ones acute, short-mucronate, the 

 veins beneath, like the petiole, pubescent ; spikes veiy numerous, forming a long 

 leafy and more or less dense panicle ; sepals lanceolate, acute, scarcely half as 

 long as the subulate bracts, shorter than the rugose utricle. — Cultivated grounds, 

 common. Aug. and Sept. — Stem 2° -4° high. Leaves 2' -4' long, twice as 

 long as the petiole. ' 



3. A. hybridus, L. Smooth or nearly so ; stem erect, branching ; leaves 

 thin, ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse, notched, or tapering at the apex, long- 

 rnucronate, the pale veins prominent beneath ; spikes numerous, panicled, the 

 terminal one elongated, the lower axillary ones short and roundish , sepals ob- 

 long, acuminate, rather shorter than the subulate bracts, and equalling the 

 slightly rugose utricle. — Cultivated grounds, Florida, and northward. Aug. 

 and Sept. — Stem 2° - 3° high. Leaves 2' - 5' long. 



4. A. spinosus, L. Smooth ; stem stout, succulent, often purplish ; leaves 

 ovate or ovate-ol)long, obtuse or emarginate, long-petioled, often blotched with 

 purple, spiny in the axils ; terminal spike elongated, bending, the lower axillary 

 ones short and roundish ; sepals, bracts, and rugose utricle nearly equal. — 

 Fields and waste places, Florida, and northward. July -Oct. — Stem l°-3° 

 high. 



3. EUXOLUS, Raf. 



Characters chiefly of Amarantus ; but the somewhat fleshy utricle indehiscent, 

 and the (green) sepals longer than the bracts. 



1. E. lividus, Moquin. Stem erect, branched, succulent, green, red, or 

 purple ; leaves long petioled, ovate, obtuse or notched at the apex ; spikes 

 dense-flowered ; the terminal one longest, acute, with several shorter ones 

 crowded near its base, the lowest axillary ones much shorter than the petiole ; 

 sepals 3, shorter than the roundish acute rugose utricle, and .3 times as long 

 as the bracts. (Amarantus lividus, L.) — South Florida to South Carolina 

 July - Sept. Q) — Stem 1 ° - 3° high. Leaves, with the petiole, 3' - 6' long 



