5. Amarantus.] 108. AMABANTACEJE. 



Stems often reddish striate. Leaves sometimes rhomboid, sometimes concave, 

 midrib often excurrent. Petiole often as long as the blade. Perianth segments 

 hyaline, '04". Utricle hyaline circumsciss about the middle. Seeds in the type 

 usually white or yellow with thick rounded border. 



Eaten as a sag. 



Var. alopecurus ; Love-lies-bleeding. 



Whole panicle inclined or drooping with a very long drooping terminal and 

 innumerable small subequal lateral spikes. Crimson or yellow. Seeds usually 

 lenticular and pitch-black with a compressed border. 



The well-known garden plant, often cultivated. The two kinds of seed are said 

 to be found on both varieties. 



4. A. giganteus, K'dnig, ? Marang leper a :, K. 



A very stout coarse herb attaining 8 ft. with striate, slightly 

 appressed pubescent stems and ovate or ovate-lanceolate leaves often 

 9" by 4-5" obtuse or emarginate and apiculate, base acute or rounded, 

 nearly glabrous, sec. n. about 10 strong. Petiole 3-5", slightly 

 scabrid. Flowers crowded in axillary and terminal dense spikes 

 •75-1" long, these in narrow panicles 3-9", the short spikes spreading 

 at right angles from the main rhachis. Male flowers 5-6-merous, 

 tepals acute or sub-awned, longer than the bracts. 



Cultivated in Singbhum ! Fl. r.s. 



The above is from my notes, but I have kept no specimens. It may be 

 Roxburgh's third variety of A. oleraeeug. It can hardly, however, be a variety of 

 A. gmigeticus. The short bracts preclude its being A. 2^aniculafus or candafus 

 unless it is a varietj' of one of these. 



5. A. gangeticus, L. Syn. (according to the F.B.I.) A. tristis, L. ; 



A. tricolor, L. ; A. oleraceus, Roxb. ; A. polygamus, Roxb. ; 

 A. lividus, Roxb. ; Khara, Vern., Ara-leper-a : (when red), 

 naguri-leper-a : (when white), K. ; Lai Sag, H. ; Dengua, rakna- 

 shak, etc., Beng. 



An erect, often stout herb 1-3 ft. high or sometimes up to 5 ft., 

 green, bright-pink or (esp. in the garden A. tricolor variously) often 

 brilliantly coloured. Leaves long-petioled broadly deltoid-ovate, or 

 some also oblong or lanceolate, the lower often 5" by 4", sometimes 

 larger ; base suddenly narrowed and decurrent on the 2-3"-long petiole, 

 apex obtuse or emarginate. Clusters of minute green flowers con- 

 gested in the axils, rarely also in a few simple spikes, never in large 

 panicles. Bracts •12-'17" long, hyaline lanceolate to oblong-oblan- 

 ceolate (or subulate, F.B.I.), awned. Tepals usually 3 in the male 

 and 2 in the female, awned like the bracts. Utricle smooth circum- 

 sciss. 



Largely cultivated, Singbhum ! Manbhum ! No doubt in most districts, bu 

 not recorded. Fl., Fr. Sept., Feb., May, probabl.y all the year. 



Tepals mostly narrowly lanceolate with greeii midrib excurrent as the awn, 

 nearly always 3 with 3 stamens in the male and 2-3 styles united at base in the 

 femaie. Seeds black with acute border. 



If the synonymy given by the F.B.I, (reproduced above) is correct, 

 the plant is very variable, the following being distinguished by 

 Roxburgh as species : — 



762 



