382 CHENOPODIACEJE. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 
ring around the mealy albumen. — Smooth and tall annuals, grow¬ 
ing in swamps, with lanceolate and taper-pointed entire petioled 
leaves, and clustered sessile flowers crowded in axillary and ter¬ 
minal spikes or panicles. (Name from a privative, and kvl8tj, the 
nettle , for a nettle-like plant which does not sting.) 
1* A. cannabina, L. Leaves elongated-lanceolate, tapering 
to a long mostly obtuse point; fruit acute-angled, smooth .— Common 
in brackish swamps, N. England to Penn., rare in fresh-water swamps 
of the interior, Vermont to Michigan. Aug., Sept. — The plant in 
flower has much the aspect of Amaranthus, but the apparent bracts 
are undeveloped blossoms. 
2. A. rusoc&rpa, Michx. Leaves ovate-lanceolate; angles 
of the fruit blunt and roughened-tubercled. — Salt marshes, New 
York : common in the S. States. 
Beta vulgaris, the Beet, with its varieties the Scarcity and Man¬ 
gel JVurtzel , and SpinAcia olerAcea, the Spinach, well-known es¬ 
culent plants, also belong to this family. 
Order 84. AMARANTHACEiE. (Amaranth Fam.) 
Weedy herbs , with nearly the characters of the last fam- 
ily, but the flowers imbricated with dry and scarious persist¬ 
ent bracts which are usually colored , the sepals very simi¬ 
lar ; the seed always vertical, and the embryo curved so as 
partly or completely to encircle the albumen. Chiefly rep¬ 
resented by the genus 
I- AMARANTHUS, L. Amaranth. 
Flowers monoecious or polygamous, rarely dioecious, 3 -bracted. 
Sepals 3-5. Stamens 3-5, separate : anthers 2-celled. Styles 
or stigmas 2-3, occasionally 4, thread-like. Utricle opening 
transversely all round, or indehiscent, 1-seeded. — Weedy herbs, 
chiefly annuals, of coarse aspect, with alternate and entire petioled 
leaves, and minute spiked-clustered flowers: bracts and calyx 
green or purple. (Name compounded of a privative, papaiva, to 
fade, and Mos, flower , because the dry calyx and bracts do not 
wither.) 
* Monoecious: utricle opening transversely : upper part falling away . 
Stamens 3. 
1* A# tilbus, L. Smooth; stem upright, angular, with spread- 
