AMAKANTACE.^. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 399 



6. ACNIDA. Flowers dioecious. Sepals of the staminate flower 5, of the pistillate none. 



Stamens 5. 



Tbibe III. GOMPHRENE^. Anthers 1-celled. Ovary 1-ovuled. Leaves opposite. 

 Stamens united below. 



7. IRESINE. Calyx 5-sepalous. Stamens united into a short cup. Sterile filaments none. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA. Calyx 5-sepalous. Stamens imited into a cup. Sterile filaments 



tooth-like, entire. 



9. TELANTHERA. Calyx 5-sepalous. Stamens united into a tube. Sterile filaments cleft 



or fimbriate at the apex. 

 10. FROELICHIA. Calyx 5-cleft. Stamens wholly united. Anthers sessile. Sterile fila- 

 ments entire. 



1. CELOSIA, L. 



Flowers perfect, 3-bracted. Sepals 5. Stamens 5, united at tlie base into 

 a cup. Sterile filaments uoue. Anthers 2-celled. Style short or elongated. 

 Stigmas 2-3, recurved. Utricle many-seeded, circumscissile. — Smootli herbs 

 or shrubs, with alternate petioled leaves, and glossy flowers crowded in axillary 

 and terminal spikes or panicles. 



1. C. paniculata, L. Stem .shrubby, erect ; leaves deltoid-ovate, acute, 

 abruptly petiuled ; spikes cylindrical, simple or branched, mostly shorter than 

 the leaves ; sepals oblong, rigid, several times longer than the bracts ; stigmas 

 3. — South ilorida. — Leaves 2' long. Seeds minute, lenticular, shining. 



2. AMARANTUS, Tourn. Amaranth. 



Flowers polygamo-monoecious, 3-bracted. Sepals 3 -5. Stamens 3-5, free. 

 Sterile filaments none. Anthers oblong, 2-celled. Stigmas 2-3, slender, 

 spreading. Utricle 1-seeded, ovate, 2 - 3-toothed at the apex, circumscissile, 

 commonly included in the calyx. Radicle inferior. — Unsightly annual herbs, 

 with erect or diffuse stems, alternate mosth' petioled entire mucronate leaves, 

 and greenish or purplish flowers, crowded in axillary and terminal spikes or 

 clusters. Bracts longer than the sepals. 



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



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

 small, longpetioled, 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 ru- 

 gose utricle. — Cultivated grounds. May - Sept. — Stem 1° high. Leaves 

 i'-r long. 



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

 stamens 5 : leaves long-petioled. 



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

 ovate or rhombic-ovate, obtuse, the veins beneath pubescent ; spikes very nu- 

 merous, forming a long leafy and more or less dense panicle ; sepals lanceolate, 

 acute, scarcely half as long as the suliulate bracts, shorter than the rugose 

 utricle. — Cultivated ground, common. August -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, the pale veins prominent beneath ; 



