AmaranTUs.] AMARANTACES. 9 
3; ovule solitary, subsessile, erect. Fruit an orbicular or ovoid 
compressed utricle, or a circumscissile membranous or coriaceous 
capsule, entire or 2-3-toothed at the apex. Seed erect, orbicular, 
compressed, testa crustaceous; embryo annular, enclosing the 
floury albumen, cotyledons linear, radicle inferior. The number 
of species cannot be definitely determined, as a large proportion 
of those described as such are known only in cultivation. Many 
of them are widely distributed in tropical and subtrop. regions 
of the world either cultivated or as weeds. 
Bracteoles awned or setaceous, equalling or exeeeding the sepals ; 
fruit dehiscent, circumscissile :— 
Stamens 6 ; Sepals 5 :— 
Leaf-axils with 5 spines; stems terete ; 
leaves ovate or oblong, obtuse ; bracts 
setaceous ; flowers in dense or lax spikes . 1. A. spinosus. 
Leaf-axils not spinous; stems striate ; 
ieaves elliptic of ovate-lanceolate ; bracts 
acicular ; spikes thyrsoid :— 
Leaves acute or acuminate; bracts re- 
curved, much exceeding the oblong-!an- 
ceolate accuminate sepals . : . 2. A. paniculatus. 
Leaves obtuse, rarely acute ; bracts hardly 
recurved, not greatly exceeding the ob- 
ovate mucronate sepals. : . 3. A. caudatus. 
Stamens 3; sepals 5; leaves obtuse or emar- 
ginate :— 
Stems branching above the middle, yielding 
under cultivation only one crop annually . 4. A. gangeticus. 
Stems branching near the base, yielding 
several crops annually . ‘ d . A. gangeticus var. 
tristis. 
Bractecles acute, hardly awned, shorter than the 
sepals ; fruit usuaily indehiscent ; leaves obtuse, 
rounded or notched :— 
Stamens 3; sepals 3 :— 
Fruit with an acute apex, indehiscent, 
rugose ; clusters axillary and in terminal 
panicled slender spikes : : . 5. A. viridis. 
