380 AMARANTACE.1E. (aMARANTII FAMILY.) 



fuse stems, alternate mostly pctiolcd entire niucronate loaves, and precnish or 

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

 longer than tlie sepals. 



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



1. A. albus, L. Stem erect, brandling from the base, smooth ; leaves 

 small, long-pctioled, 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, Florida, and northward. May - Sept. — Stem 1" 

 high. Leaves ^'-1' long. 



* * Flowers {green) crowded in terminal and axillary spikes: srpals and stanuiis 

 5 : leaves long-petioled. 



2. A. chlorostachys, Willd. Stem erect, furrowed, jjuhescent ; leaves 

 ovate or rlionil)ic-ovate, obtuse, or the upper ones acute, sliort-niucronatc, the 

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

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

 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, brancln'ng ; leaves 

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

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

 terminal one elongated, the lower axillary ones siiort and roundish , sc|)ais ob- 

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

 slightly rugose utricle. — Cultivated grounds, Florida, and nortliward. 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-oblong, 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 eciual. — 

 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 indehiscenf, 

 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 sliortcr ib:in the petiole; 

 sepals 3, shorter than the roundish acute rugose utricle, and .1 imies as long 

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

 July - Sept. (!) — Stem 1 ° - .'}° high. Leaves, with the jietiole, 3' - b' long 



