AMARANTH FAMILY. 591 
2, ACNIDA L. POL ae 1753: 
Annual, erect or decumbent, glabrous branching herbs, similar to the dioecious Amar- 
anths, with alternate petioled thin pinnately veined leaves. Flowers small, green, 1-3- 
bracted, in terminal and axillary, continuous or interrupted spikes, or clustered in the axils. 
Staminate flowers consisting of 5 scarious erect I-nervyed mucronate sepals longer than the 
bracts, and as many stamens; filaments subulate, distinct; anthers 2-celled. Pistillate flowers 
without a calyx; ovary ovoid or subglobose; stigmas 2-5, papillose or plumose, short or 
elongated. Utricle fleshy and indehiscent, or membranous and bursting irregularly or cir- 
cumscissile; seed erect, smooth and shining. [Greek, without nettle. ] 
About 4 species, natives of eastern North America and the West Indies. 
Utricle fleshy, angled, indehiscent; salt-marsh plant. 1. A. cannabina. 
Utricle membranous, dehiscent or indehiscent, not angled; plants of fresh-water swamps. 
2. A, famariscina. 
1. Acnida cannabina L. Salt-marsh Water-hemp. (Fig. 1409.) 
Acnida cannabina I,, Sp. Pl. 1027. 1753. 
A. rusocarpa Michx. FI. Bor. Am. 2: 234. pl. 50. 1803. 
Succulent, stem stout or slender (sometimes I/ in 
diameter at the base), usually much branched, 1° 
10° tall, the branches ascending. Leaves lanceolate, 
acuminate but generally bluut-pointed and apiculate 
at the apex, 2’-6’ long, ¢’-1}4’ wide, narrowed at the 
base, entire or slightly undulate; petiole usually 
shorter than the blade; staminate spikes 1/-5/ long, 
usually dense; sepals oblong-lanceolate or ovate-ob- 
long, acute, acuminate or obtusish, cuspidate or mu- 
cronate; fertile spikes dense or loose; stigmas slender, 
papillose-hispid, 1%’ long; utricle fleshy, indehis- 
cent, 3-5-angled, subglobose or obovoid, 1/’-2’’ long 
when mature, becoming black, much longer than 
the bracts. 
In salt and brackish marshes, and up the rivers to fresh 
water, Massachusetts to Florida. July—Aug. 
Acnida Floridana S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 376, a more slender plant, of the southern At- 
lantic coast, with narrower slender-petioled leaves, the flowers in elongated interrupted spikes, 
and a smaller utricle, may occur in southern Virginia. 
2. Acnida tamariscina (Nutt.) Wood. 
Western Water-hemp. (Fig. 1410.) 
Amarantus tamariscinus Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 
(II.) 5: 165. | 1833-37. 
Acnida tamariscina Wood, Bot. & Fl. 289. 1873. 
Similar to the preceding species, much branched, 
erect, the branches usually slender, erect-ascending. 
Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2/’-6’ long, 
mostly long-acuminate, but sometimes obtuse at the 
apex and mucronate or cuspidate-tipped, narrowed at 
the base, the petioles commonly shorter than the blades; 
spikes mostly loose or interrupted, often 5’ long; se- 
pals lanceolate, subulate-acuminate; stigmas plumose, 
rather short; utricle membranous, not angled, 1%4//-1/’ 
long, circumscissile; bractlets lanceolate, cuspidate. 
In swamps, Illinois to South Dakota, Louisiana and 
New Mexico. July-Sept. 
Acnida tamariscina tuberculata (Moq.) Uline & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 20: 157. 1895. 
Acnida tuberculata Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2, 278. 1849. 
Acnida tamariscina var. subnuda §. Wats. in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 429. 1890. 
Tall, erect, sometimes 10° high, with flexuous branches; inflorescence spicate; utricle ovoid, 
tubercled, indehiscent. Vermont to Manitoba, Tennessee and Nebraska. ‘This and the following 
varieties perhaps constitute a distinct species. 
Acnida tamariscina concatenata (Moq.) Uline & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 20: 158. 1895. 
Acnida cannabina var. concatenata Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2, 278. 1849. 
Montelia tamariscina var. concalenata A, Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 413. 1867. 
Stem often decumbent; flowers larger, in separated glomerules. Range of preceding variety. 
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