NAT. ORDER. — AMARANLACEjE. - 93 



Amuranthus cruentus. Various-leaved Amaranthus. In this 

 species tlie stem is a foot and a half or two feet in height, grooved, 

 green with red streaks, smooth, and slightly pubscent among the 

 flowers ; the leaves are green, spotted with brown above, red 

 beneath, bluntish with a reddish short point ; the petioles are red, 

 channelled, and smooth ; the racemes red and green, with branchlets 

 spreading and nodding a little; the calyx five-leaved ; the leaflets 

 oblong, pointed, white-membraneous, with a red nerve, and a point 

 of the same color. It varies of a shining red color — with a red 

 stalk with pale leaves — with a green stalk with variegated leaves, 

 &c. When first cultivated in this climate, the stem is wholly red 

 and smooth ; the petioles, ribs, and nerves of the leaves underneath 

 purple ; the spikes purple, much spreading, and a little nodding. 

 They are highly beautiful, and make a gay appearance for the first 

 two years; but after that time the seeds degenerate, and the plants 

 possess but little beauty, which is the same with some others of this 



genus. It is a native of the East Indies. 



f 



Propagation and CuUurc. The propagation in most of these spe- 

 cies is not efTected without considerable trouble, as they require the 

 aid of artificial heat in order to bring them forward in the gi-eatest 

 perfection. There are few, however, that may be raised in the open 

 ground without the assistance of heat applied in the above manner. 



The second and third species, being the most tender, demand 

 much greater attention, and more artificial heat in producing them, 

 than those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth kinds. And tiie first and 

 last species are capable of being raised witii still less heat than those 

 of the above sorts, though not in the fullest perfection without a 

 slight degree of it. 



In all the different species the business is accomplished by sowing 

 the seeds annually in the early part of the .spring months, say about 

 the last of March, or about the beginning of April, on beds of good 

 earth, either over heat or in the natural ground, according to the 



