382 AMARAXTACEiE. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 



short: stigmas 2-3, 6lender. Utricle roundish, 1 -seeded, indchisccnt, included 

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

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

 panicled spikes or heads. 



§ 1. Philoxekus. Flowers perfect, crowded in axillary and terminal 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 than bracts, the two exterior ones woolly at the base. — Sandy sea-shores, 

 South Florida. — Stems 1° - 2° long. Leaves £' - 1' long. Heads 3" - 8" long, 

 mostly terminal and solitary. 



§ 2. Iresinastrttm. Flowers dicecious, disposed in loosely -panicled 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 pyramidal, much branched ; spikelets ovate, obtuse, straw-color; 

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

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

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

 lanceolate. Branches of the panicle alternate. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA, Mart. 



Flowers perfect or dioecious, 3-bractcd. 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: stkrma capitate or 2-lobcd. Utricle indehiseent, 

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

 posite. 



* Flowers diaciour, : heads or spikes loosrly panicled : stirjma 2-lobed. 



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

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

 i.-li with short scattered hairs, short-petiolcd ; panicle oblong, the branches alter- 

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

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

 persistent bracts; those of the pistillate flowers ovate, S-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 mostly axillary, solitary or clustered: stigma capitah .- 

 et( ins prostrate, 



2. A. Achyrantha, R.Br. Stems forking, pubescent; leaves unoothish, 

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

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



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



