382 AMAHANTACE.*;. (aMAUANTU FAMILY.) 



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

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

 with opposite petioled leaves, and scarious glossy llowers, disposed in single or 

 panicled spikes or heads. 



I) 1. PiiiLOXKRUS. Flowers perfect, croiidid in axillarij and terminal lifods. 



1. I. vermiculai'is, Moquin. Smooth; stem much branched, prostrate 

 or creeping ; leaves ciub-sliapcd, fleshy, seIni-te^cte ; heads mostly sessile, oviite 

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

 longer than bracts, the two exterior ones woolly at the base. — Sandy sea-shon-s. 

 South Florida. — Stems l°-2° long. Leaves j' - 1 ' long. Heads 3" - b" long, 

 mostly terminal and solitary. 



^ 2. InESiKASTRCM. Flowers diacious, disposed in looseliz-panicltd 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 ])yrarnidal, much branched ; spikelets ovate, obtuse, straw-color ; 

 sepals 3-nervcd, smooth, acute, twice as long as the ovate bracts ; rachis slightly 

 pubescent. (I. celosioides, Z7//. ?) In Florida, il//c/(«Mr. Saline marshes. South 

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

 lanceolate. Branches of the panicle alternate. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA, Mart. 



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 : 

 anthert 1-cellcd. Style short: stigma capitate or 2-lol)cd. Utricle indehisccnt, 

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

 posite. 



* Floicei'S didcious : heads or spikes loosehj panlrhd : stigma 2-lobed. 



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

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

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

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

 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. ® — 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 mosthj axillartj , solitary or clustered: stigma capitate: 

 stems prostrate. 



2. A. Achyrantha, R. Br. Stemsforking, pubescent; leaves smoothish, 

 oval or obovatc, narrowed into a petiole ; heads dense, oval, white ; sepals lance- 

 olate, spine-pointed, woolly with barbed hairs on the back, the two inner on<'s 

 much small'T; st(Til<: filaments sulmlnte fioni a dilatid and obscurely dcnticiiluto 



