AMARANTH FAMILY. 587 
1. AMARANTHUS L.. Spel O80. | 1753: 
Annual branched erect or diffusely spreading glabrous or pubescent herbs, most of the 
species weeds, with alternate, petioled pinnately veined entire, undulate or crisped leaves 
and small monoecious polygamous or dioecious green or purplish mostly 3-bracteolate 
flowers in dense terminal spikes or axillary clusters. Calyx of 2-5 distinct sepals. Stamens 
2-5; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Styles or stigmas 2or 3. Fruit an ovoid or 
oblong utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent, 2-3 beaked by the persis- 
tent styles. Embryoannular. [Greek, unfading flower, from the dry, unwithering bracts. ] 
About 50 species of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following some 22 others occur 
in the southern and western United States. 
Utricle circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid. 
Flowers, at least the upper, in dense terminal spikes. 
Axils not spine-bearing. 
Spikes stout, 4'’-7"" thick. 1. A. relrofiexus. 
Spikes slender, 2'’-3'' thick. 2. A. hybridus. 
A pair of stout spines in each axil. 3. A. spinosus. 
Flowers all in small axillary clusters, mostly shorter than the leaves. 
Plant prostrate; sepals 4 or 5. 4. A. blitotdes. 
Plant erect, bushy-branched; sepals 3. 5. A. graecizans. 
Utricle indehiscent, membranous, coriaceous or fleshy. 
Upper flowers in terminal, more or less elongated spikes. 
Sepals 5, clawed; flowers dioecious; southwestern species. 
Bracts cuspidate-tipped, short. 6. A. Torreyi. 
Bracts subulate, long and sharp. 7. A. Palmert. 
Sepals 2 or 3, oblong or spatulate; lowers monoecious or polygamous; in waste places. 
Utricle smooth, dry, scarious. 8. A. lividus. 
Utricle fleshy, 3-5-nerved. g. A. deflexus. 
Flowers all in small axillary clusters shorter than the leaves. 
Plant not fleshy; stem prostrate; leaves crisped. 10. A. crispus. 
Sea-coast fleshy plant; stem short, erect; leaves not crisped. 11. A. pumilus. 
1. Amaranthus retrofléxus L. Rough Pigweed. (Fig. 1398.) 
Amaranthus retroflexus I, Sp. Pl. 991. 1753. / 
Roughish-puberulent, rather light green, stem 
stout, erect or ascending, commonly branched, 1°— 
10° tall. Leaves ovate, rhombic-ovate or the upper 
lanceolate, slender-petioled, acute or acuminate at 
the apex, narrowed or cuneate at the base, the 
larger 3/—6’ long, their margins undulate or entire; 
flowers green, densely aggregated in terminal and 
axillary spikes, which are sessile, stout, obtuse 
or subacute, ovoid-cylindric, erect or ascending, 
44/-2%4’ long, 4’/-7’’ thick; bracts subulate, twice 
as long as the 5 scarious narrowly oblong or slightly 
spatulate mucronate-tipped and often emarginate 
sepals; stamens 5; utricle slightly wrinkled, thin, 
circumscissile, rather shorter than the sepals. 
A weed, in cultivated and waste soil, throughout 
North America except the extreme north. Also in Eu- 
rope. Naturalized from tropical America. Aug.—Oct. 
2. Amaranthus hybridus I. Slender 
Pigweed. (Fig. 1399.) 
Amaranthus hybridus Y,. Sp. Pl. 990. 1753. 
Amaranthus hypochondriacus I. Sp. Pl. 991. 1753. 
A. chlorostachys Willd. Amaranth, 34. p/. zo. 4.19. 1790. 
Amarantus chlorostachys var. hybridus §. Wats. in A. 
Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 428. 1890. 
Similar to the preceding species but darker green, 
or purple, pubescent or nearly glabrous; stem usually 
slender, erect, usually branched, 2°-8° tall. Leaves 
bright green on both sides or paler beneath, usually 
smaller, slender-petioled; spikes linear-cylindric, axil- 
lary and forming dense terminal panicles, ascending, 
somewhat spreading or drooping; bracts subulate, 
twice as long as the 5 oblong acute or cuspidate sepals; 
stamens 5; utricle scarcely wrinkled, circumscissile. 
_A weed, in waste grounds, range of the preceding spe- 
cies. Naturalized from tropical America. Aug.—Oct. 
