Ac/tyranihes.'] AmarantacecB. 403 



Throughout Tropical Asia and Africa. 



Much used in native medicine as a remedy for indigestion and 

 coughs. 



3. S:. monsoniae,'^ Mart. Beit. Amarant. 83 (1825). 

 Thw. Enum. 248. C. P. 3324. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 729 (not given for Ceylon). Wight, Ic. t. 725 (not 

 good). 



Perennial, with a very long twisted tap-root, stems nume- 

 rous, prostrate or ascending, quadrangular, woolly-pubescent, 

 divaricately branched ; 1. opp. and in fascicles at the nodes, 

 small, \-\ in., narrowly linear, sharply apiculate, slightly 

 woolly, midrib prominent beneath, fl. bisexual, very small, 

 densely crowded, spikes very numerous, |-i in., shortly stalked, 

 terminating short branchlets and arranged paniculately, 

 narrow, bracts linear-lanceolate, acute, bractlets several, per.- 

 1. 4, linear-lanceolate, longer than bractlets, very acute, slightly 

 cottony on the back; stam. 4, stigma capitate; seed ovoid, 

 slightly compressed, brown, polished. 



Sandy places in the dry region near the sea, very rare. Jaffna 

 (Ferguson); Mullaitivu (Nevill). Fl. July; pale pink. 

 Also in Peninsular India. 

 A pretty plant, worthy of cultivation. 



10. ACKVRANTKES, L. 



Herbs, 1. opp., fl. small, nearly sessile, deflexed, in elon- 

 gated terminal spikes, bracts deflexed, bractlets 2, above the 

 fl., usually transformed into sharp spines; per.-l. 5, becoming 

 hard and shining with fruit ; stam. 5 or 2, connate at base, 

 with alternating staminodes which are truncate, fimbriate, or 

 toothed ; style long, stigma capitellate, ovule solitary, pendu- 

 lous from basal funicle. — Sp. 12; 4 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Upper per.-l. longer than the rest . . . . i. A. aquatica. 

 Per.-l. equal 

 Stam. 5. 



Per.-l. acute; staminodes fimbriate . . 2. A. aspera. 

 Per.-l. long-acuminate; staminodes not fimbriate 3. A. bidentata. 

 Stam. 2 4. A. DIANDRA. 



I. A. aquatica, Br. Prodr. 417 (18 10). 

 Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxvii. 166. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 730 (not given for Ceylon). Wight, Ic. t. 1780 {Ccntro- 

 siachys). 



A coarse succulent herb, stem very stout, glabrous, trans- 

 lucent, with many slender filiform adventitious roots and long 



* It is not easy to see in what respect this resembles Monsonia, a 

 genus of Geraniacese. Name given by Linn. f. (under lUecebrum). 



