CII. AMARANTACE.i;. 485 



Flowers spioate ; fruit a crustaceous nut; 



seed not ari Hate 3. Dioera. 



Flowers 1-sexual 4. xI.mauantus. 



Leaves alternate or fascicled or with opposite and alternate 

 mixed (never all opposite) ; stamens with interposed stauii- 



nodes ; ovules suspended from a basal funicle 5. jEituA. 



Lenves all opposite, not fascicled; ovary 1 -celled ; ovules 

 suspended from a basal funicle. 

 Anthers 2-celled. 



Flowers all perfect, spicate. 

 Staminodes 0. 



Stamens 5 6. Psilostaciiys. 



Stamens 2 7. Nothos.euua. 



Stamens with interposed staminodes ; bracts 



and braeteoles hard, spinous 8, Aciiyuantiies. 



Flowers clustered, 1-3 perfect surrounded by de- 

 formed ones. 



Stamens with interposed staminodes 9. Cvatiiula. 



Staminodes 10. Pupalia. 



Authers 1-celled 11. Alternantuera. 



1. CELOSIA, Linn. 



Herbs usually annual. Leaves alternate. Flowers hermaphrodite, in 

 dense terminal and axillary spikes, sessile or shortly pedicellate, white 

 or colored ; bracts scarious ; braeteoles 2, scarious. Perianth of 5 

 segments slightly connate below, scarious, oblong or lanceolate, acute 

 or obtuse, striate, erect in fruit. Stamens 5 ; tilaments connate below 

 in a membranous hypogynous cup ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 0. 

 Ovary 1-celled, ovoid or subglobose ; ovules 2 or more, on long fuuicles ; 

 style or short or long, sometimes elongating in fruit; stigmas simple 

 or 2 or 3, subulate. Fruit a circumscissilely dehiscent capsule mem- 

 branous or sometimes corky or coriaceous. Seeds 2 or more, erect, 

 lenticular ; testa crustaceous, black, shining or dull ; embryo annular, 

 surrounding floury albumen ; cotyledons linear ; radicle descending or 

 ascending. — Distrib. Tropical Asia, Africa and America ; species 35. 



Flowers in dense spikes 1-6 in. long 1. C. argentea. 



Flowers in distant small clusters on a spicate inEoreseence. 

 Leaves more than 1 in. long, narrowly ovate ; branches, 



rhachis of the spike, and petioles glabrous 2. C. piUchella. 



Leaves less than 1 in. long, broadly ovate ; branches, 



rhachis of the spike, and petioles hairy 3. C. polygonoides. 



1. Celosia argentea, Linn. Sp. P/. (1753) p. 205. Annual, 1-3 ft. 

 high, glabrous ; stem erect, simple or ascending ; branches grooved. 

 Leaves variable, 1-4 by ^-1$ in., linear or linear-lanceolate (rarely 

 ovate), acute, entire, glabrous, base much taperiug into a short petiole or 

 leaves sessile. Flowers at first pinkish, afterwards glistening white, 

 crowded and imbricate, in close cylindric blunt or acuminate terminal 

 spikes 1-6 by |-1 in., sometimes branching at the apex in a cock's- 

 comb form ; braeteoles ^-i in. long, linear-lanceolate, scarious. Perianth 

 5 in. long or more ; sepals linear-lanceolate, acute, scarious, with 3 close 

 parallel slender striae on the back. Stamens short ; tilaments connate 

 into a cup. Style filiform, elongate after flowering, sometimes exserted 

 in fruit. Capsules g-^ in. long, ellipsoid, tapering at the apex into 

 the style, circumscissile abotit the middle. Seeds 4-8, subreniform, 



