384 
AMARANTHACE^E. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 
7. A. Kilt mil, I- Smooth, diffusely spreading; leaves ovate or 
rhomboid, very obtuse or notched, often blotched; flowers in small 
and round axillary clusters and in naked terminal spikes (greenish); 
bracts shorter than the calyx, not spiny-pointed ; stamens 3. — “Fre¬ 
quently a very troublesome weed in gardens.” Pursh. Introduced. 
8. A* defl&xilS, L. ? Stem prostrate, branching from the base, 
slender (1° long), pubescent; leaves rhombic-ovate, rather acute ; clus¬ 
ters axillary, few- (8-12-) flowered, loose, roundish; bracts lanceo¬ 
late, short, not spiny; stamens 3-5. — Suburbs of Albany, Torrey. 
V Aug., Sept. — Introduced. “ Leaves about | ; long, strongly waved on 
the margins./’ 
* * * * Dioecious: utricle (very thin ) opening transversely - 
9. A. tamariscinus, Nutt. Very smooth, upright, at length 
with numerous spreading branches; leaves lanceolate and ovate; 
flowers (yellowish-green) clustered in elongated and naked loosely 
panicled compound wand-like spikes, and sometimes also in rounded 
axillary fascicles ; in the sterile plant 5-androus; in the fertile with 
2-4 elongated and almost plumose stigmas. — Swamps and sandy 
shores. Otter Creek, Vermont, Robbins , Whitehall, New York, Ca¬ 
rey (S. to Louisiana !), and Milwaukie, Wisconsin, Lapham , the lat¬ 
ter a smaller-leaved and procumbent variety, or state, with the flow¬ 
ers mostly in dense capitate axillary clusters. July-Sept. — Stems 
2°-4° high. Flowers somewhat resembling those of Acnida, espe¬ 
cially the staminate, which are larger than the pistillate and more 
scarious, their minute bracts very much shorter than the calyx. 1° 
the pistillate, the greenish-pointed bracts equal or exceed the cal) x, 
but are shorter than the conspicuous stigmas. 
A. lividus and A. viridis are also given by Pursh as common spe¬ 
cies, but it is doubtful if they are really found at the North. — Se\era 
other purple species are cultivated. 
2. IRESINE, Willd. Iresine. 
Flowers dicecio-polygamous, 3-bracted. Sepals 5. Stamens 
5: anthers 1-celled. Style short: stigmas 2-3. Utricle burst¬ 
ing irregularly, 1-seeded. — Branching herbs, with opposite peti- 
oled leaves, and loosely spicate-panicled very small white flowers. 
(Name from elpetrianrq, a branch entwined with fillets of wool borne 
in processions at festivals.) 
1. I. celosioldes, Willd. Annual, tall and slender, smooth/ 
leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed; flowers in compound and nake 
terminal panicles composed of many small (whitish) spikes, the fer¬ 
tile woolly. — Moist river-banks, S. Ohio and southward. Sept. 
Plant 39-4° high. 
