8 | AMARANTACEZ. | { Digera. 
outer reduced to crested scales, the central one perfect. Perianth 
sub-membranous, calycine; segments 5, slightly connate below, 
oblong, erect, the 2 outer larger. Stamens 5, hypogynous ; filaments 
free, filiform; anthers 2-celled; staminodes none. Ovary 1- 
celled, oblong, compressed, truncate; style filiform ; stigmas 2, 
recurved ; ovule solitary, erect. Fruit a subglobose crustaceous 
nut, included in the perianth. Seed subglobose, erect; testa thin, 
crustaceous, brown, adhering to the albumen, embryo annular, 
cotyledons linear, radicle descending. A single species, occurring 
in India and Ceylon, and extending to Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 
Arabia and N. Africa. . 
D. arvensis, Forsk. Fl. Agypt-Arab. 65; Royle Ill. 320; F. B. 
I. iv, 717 ; Watt E. D. ; Prain Beng. Pl. 868; Cooke Fl. Bomb. i, 
487. Achyranthes alternifolia, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 674. 
A slender annual weed of cultivation, cr sometimes becoming perennial 
and with spreading prostrate branches. Leaves glabrous, very vari- 
able, 3-3 in. long, ovate or elliptic, acute or rounded at the apex, 
base rounded or cuneate, margins often tinged with red; petioles 
slender, 3-1 in. long. Flowers sessile, forming lax axillary peduncled 
spikes 1-5 in. long ; bracts and bracteoles shorter than the perianth, 
ovate-lanceolate, acute, submembranous, persistent. Perianth pink, 
2 in. long ; segments ovate-oblong, acute. Fruit 3-7, in. in diam., 
slightly compressed and margined, muriculate. 
Common and widely distributed over the area of this flora, flowering 
usually after the rains are over. Dusrrrs.: Plains of N. India from 
the Punjab to Bengal, and in Western C. and S. India; extending to 
Ceylon, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Arabia and N. Africa. The leaves 
are often used as a pot-herb. 
4. AMARANTUS, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 718. 
Erect or decumbent annual herbs. Leaves alternate. Flowers 
small, monecious or polygamous, arranged in axillary clusters or 
in dense terminal and axillary spikes or panicles ; bracts herbaceous, 
often persistent ; bracteoles 2. Matz fl.: Perianth of 5 (rarely, 1-3) 
membranous ovate-lanceolate segments. Stamens 5 (rarely 1-3) ; 
filaments free, subulate or filiform ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 
none. Fem. fl. Perianth-segments oblong or spathulate, erect in 
fruit. Ovary ovoid, compressed ; style short or none, stigmas 2 or 
