39^ Amarantacece. {Cyathula. 



3 ; styles 3 ; fruit urccolate, tapering to sharp point, deeply- 

 wrinkled, indchiscent. 



Dry waste places and roadsides in the dry region ; common. Fl. all 

 the year. 



In all Tropical countries. 



Linnaeus gives Ceylon as a locality for his A. polygonoides j but, if this 

 be also his A. polygamus, that name has priority. 



A. B/ittein, L. (scarcely distinct from A. polygonoides\ is given for 

 Ceylon in Fl. B. Ind. The cultivated form of this is true A. oleraceus, L. 

 I have not seen it here. 



5. CVATHUIiA, Lour. 



Annual, 1. opp., entire, fl. in solitary or capitulate clusters, 

 one perfect the rest reduced to hooked or glochidiate awns ; 

 per.-leaves 5, awned or not; stam. 5, fil. connate below to 

 form a cup with 5 truncate staminodes alternating with 

 stam.; ovule pendulous from a basal funicle ; fruit inde- 

 hiscent, very thin; seed oblong. — Sp. 10; 4 in FL B. Lid. 



Fl.-clusters in globose heads . . . i. C. zeylanica. 

 Fl.-clusters solitary . . . . 2. C. prostrata. 



1. C. zeylanica, Hk.f. in Fl. B. Ind. iv. 723 (1885). 

 C. capitatix^ Tliw. Enum. 249 (non Moq.). 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 723. 



Stem long, 2-4 ft., slightly branched, pubescent or hairy 

 especially when young, somewhat thickened at nodes ; 1. \\- 

 2\ in., oval, acute at hoth ends, apiculate, entire, silky-hairy 

 on both sides especially beneath ; fl.-clusters capitulate, heads 

 sessile, globose in an oblong-ovoid terminal infl., bracts short, 

 ovate, acuminate, persistent, imperfect fl. 2 in each cluster ; 

 per.-leavcs ovate, membranous, hairy, tapering into a long 

 stiff awn with reflexed prickles (glochiate) at the top ; 

 staminodes broadly oblong, much fimbriated ; fruit not seen. 



Dry country ; very rare. Uma-oya, on Lower Badulla Road 

 (Thwaites). Fl. March. 



Endemic. 



I have seen only the C. P. specimens collected in 1854, which are 

 somewhat imperfect. 



2. C. prostrata, />'/. J^ijd. 549 (1826). Bin-karal-heba, S. 



Achyranthes prostrata, L., Moon Cat. 18. Thw. Knum. 249. C. P. 

 2242. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 723. Wight, Ic. t. 733 {Dcsmochcctc prostrata). 



Stem 1-3 ft., prostrate below and rooting at the lower 

 nodes, branched from the base, slender, thickeiu tl at nodes, 



