382 AMARANTACE^. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 



short: stigmas 2 - 3, slender. Utricle roundish, 1 -seeded, indehiscent, included 

 in the calyx. Seed vertical, lenticular. Radicle ascending. — Chiefly herbs, 

 with opposite pctioled leaves, and scarious glossy flowers, disposed in single or 

 panicled spikes or heads. 



§ 1. Philoxerus. Fioivers perfect, croicdidin axillary and teiminal heads. 



1. I. vermieularis, Moquin. Smooth; stem much branched, prostrate 

 or creeping; leaves club-shaped, fleshy, semi-terete ; heads mostly sessile, ovate 

 or globose, at length oblong or cylindrical, obtuse ; flowers white ; sepals obtuse, 

 longer tlian bracts, the two exterior ones woolly at the base. — Sandy sea-shores. 

 South Florida. — Stems \° -'1° long. Leaves j'-l' long. Heads 3" -8" long, 

 mostly terminal and solitai-y. 



4 2. IkesinastrUiM. Flowers diacions, disposed in loosthj-jmnicled spikes. 



2. I. diffusa, H. «& B. Stem erect, somewhat ,5-angled, smooth ; leaves 

 petioled, ovate, acuminate, slightly denticulate-ciliate on the margin, smooth ; 

 panicle narrowly pjTamidal, much branched ; spikelets ovate, obtuse, straw-color ; 

 sepals 3-nerv'ed, smooth, acute, twice as long as the ovate bracts ; rachis slightly 

 pubescent. (I. celosioides, Ell. ?) In Florida, ifichaux. Saline marshes. South 

 Carolina, Elliott. — Stem 2° -3° high. Leaves l|'-2'long, the upper ones 

 lanceolate. Branches of the panicle alternate. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA, Man. 



Flowers perfect or dioecious, 3-bracted. Sepals 5, smooth or villous. Sta- 

 mens 5, united into a short cup at the base. Sterile filaments minute, tooth-like : 

 anthers 1-celled. Style short : stigma capitate or 2-lobed. Utricle indehiscent, 

 1-seeded. Seed vertical, lenticular. Radicle ascending. — Herbs. Leaves op- 

 posite. 



* Floicers diacients : heads or splices loosely panicled : stigma 2-lobed. 



1 . A. flaveseens, Moquin. Stem erect, smooth, furrowed, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at each end, rough- 

 ish with short scattered hairs, short-petioled ; panicle oblong, the branches alter- 

 nate, nearly leafless ; spikes oblong, lengthening, straw-color ; sepals of the 

 staminate flowers oblong, acute, nerveless, smooth, twice as long as the ovate 

 persistent bracts ; those of the pistillate flowers ovate, 3-nerved nearly to the 

 apex ; the pedicels clothed with long white wool. — Margins of fields, Middle 

 Florida. July - Sept. (j) — Stem 2° - 3° high. Leaves 2' - 4' long, the upper- 

 most alternate and lanceolate. Panicle 8'- 12' long. Sterile filaments tooth- 

 like, minute. 



* * Flowers perfect : heads mostly axillary, solitary or clustered : stigma capitate : 

 stems prostrate. 



2. A. Achyrantha, R. Br. Stems forkmg, pubescent ; leaves smoothish, 

 oval or obovate, naiTowed into a petiole ; heads den.se, oval, white ; sepals lance- 

 olate, spine-pointed, woolly with barbed hairs on the back, the two inner ones 

 much smaller ; sterile filaments subulate from a dilated and obscurely denticulate 



