AMAJJANTACE.fi. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 369 



§ 2. Flowers crowded in close and small axillary clusters : stems spreading or ascend- 

 ing : stamens and sqmls 3, or the former only 2. 



7. A. Albus, L. Smooth, pale green (^°-2° high) ; stems whitish, mostly 

 spreading next the ground ; leaves long-petioled, obovate and spatulate-oblong, 

 very obtuse or retuse ; flowers greenish ; sepals mucronate, half the length of the 

 rugose fruit, much shorter than the rigid pungently pointed bracts. — Waste 

 grounds, near towns, and road-sides : common. (Nat. from Trop. Amer. ?) 



A. melancholicus, L., cultivated under the fanciful name of Love-lies- 

 Bleeding, is not spontaneous. 



2. EEXOL.US, Raf. False Amakanth. 



Flowers monoecious, or rarely perfect, 3-bracted. Calyx of 3 - 5 erect gla- 

 brous sepals. Stamens 2-5, mostly 3r Stigmas 3. Fruit an ovato and often 

 rather fleshy 1-sceded utricle, which does not open or bursts irregularly. Other- 

 wise much as in Amarantus. (Name said by the author to mean "well shut," 

 probably formed illegitimately of ev, very, and oXos, whole or entire.) 



1. E. lividcs, L. Smooth, livid-purple; stem thick, much branched ; leaves 

 ovate or oval, long-petioled ; axillary spikes or heads dense, much shorter than 

 the petioles, the terminal elongated ; sepals 3, much longer than the bracts, rather 

 tJiorter than the rugose fruit (J) (Amarantus lividus, L.) — Coast of Virginia 

 (according to Linnaeus), and southward. (Adv. from Trop. Amer. ?) 



2. E. deflexus, Raf. Minutely pubescent; stems decumbent, or ascending 

 with deflexed branches (1° high); leaves rhombic-lanceolate; spikes oblong- 

 cylindrical ; sepals mostly 3, shorter than the smooth acutish fruit. (Amarantus 

 deflexus, L.) — Waste places, Albany, New York, &c. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. E. puiliilus, Raf. (Dwarf Amaranth.) Prostrate, smooth, rather 

 fleshy; leaves obovate, emarginate, and pctioled, often purple-veined, mostly 

 crowded at the end of the spreading branches , flowers greenish and purple, in 

 small axillary clusters ; bracts short, pointless ; stamens and sepals 5. the latter 

 half the length of the ovate obscurely 5-ribbed thickish fruit (which is not cir- 

 cumcissile, as figured in Fl. N. Y.) (Amarantb.ua pumilus, Raf., Nutt.) — Sandy 

 sea-shore, Long Island to Virginia and southward. Aug., Sept. 



3. BIONTELIA, Moquin (under Acnida). 



Flowers dioecious, 2 -3-bracted, Staminate flowers of 5 thin oblong and 

 mucronate-tipped sepals, longer than the bracts, and as many stamens with ob- 

 long anthers ; the cells of the latter united only at the middle. Pistillate flow- 

 ers without any calyx, the lanceolate awl-pointed bracts longer than the 1-ovuled 

 ovary: stigmas 2-4, very long, bristle-awl-shaped, plumose-hispid. Fruit a 

 thin and membranaceous globular utricle, smooth and even, opening transverse- 

 ly around the middle ; the upper part falling off like a lid. Radicle of the 

 annular embryo inferior. — An annual glabrous herb, mostly tall and erect, with 

 lanceolate or oblong-ovate alternate leaves, on long petioles, and small clusters 

 of greenish flowers, mostly crowded into elongated and panicled interrupted 

 spikes. (Probably a personal name.) 



