400 AMARANTACE.E. (AMAKANTH FAMILY.) 



spikes numerous, panicled, the terminal one elongated, the lower axillary ones 

 short and roundish; sepals oblong, acuminate, rather shorter than the subu- 

 late bracts, and equalling the slightly rugose utricle. Cultivated ground. 

 August -Sept. Stem 2 -3 high. Leaves 2' -5' long. 



4. A. spinosus, L. Smooth; stem stout, succulent, often purplish; 

 leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse or emarginate, long-petioled, often 

 blotched with purple, the axils spiny ; terminal spike elongated, bending, the 

 lower axillary ones short and roundish ; sepals, bracts, and rugose utricle 

 nearly equal. Fields and waste places. July - Oct. Stem l-3 high. 



3. EUXOLUS, Raf. 



Characters chiefly of Amarantus ; but the somewhat fleshy utricle indehis- 

 cent, and the (green) sepals longer than the bracts. 



1. E. lividus, Moquin. Stem erect, branched; leaves long-petioled, 

 ovate, obtuse ; spikes dense-flowered ; the terminal one longest, with several 

 shorter ones crowded near its base, the lowest axillary ones much .shorter 

 than the petiole ; sepals 3, shorter than the roundish acute rugose utricle, and 

 3 times as long as the bracts. Waste ground. July - Sept. (T) Stem 1- 

 3 high. Leaves, with the petiole, 3' -6' long. 



2. E. deflexus, Raf. Stems decumbent, widely branched ; leaves ovate 

 or rhombic-lanceolate, obtuse ; spikes mostly single, thick, the clusters oblong ; 

 utricle ovate, smooth ; margins of the seed acute. Waste ground. Intro- 

 duced. Stems 1- 1| long. Leaves 1'- H' long. Spikes 2' -3' long. 



3. E. pumilus, Raf. Stem low, somewhat fleshy ; leaves small, mostly 

 crowded near the end of the branches, ovate, obtuse, short-petioled ; flowers 

 in small axillary clusters ; sepals 5, half as long as the ovate obscurely 5-ribbed 

 utricle. Sandy sea-shore, South Carolina, and northward. August - Sept. 



4. AMBLOGYNA, Raf. 



Flowers monoecious. Staminate flowers 3-sepalous, triandrous. Pistillate 

 calyx round-funnel-shaped, 5-cleft, with spreading spatulate scarious lobes, 

 enclosing the indehiscent utricle. Otherwise like Amarantus. 



1. A. polygonoides, Raf. Stem slightly pubescent, branching ; leaves 

 small, rhombic-ovate or obovate; flowers crowded in axillary clusters; bracts 

 subulate ; calyx of the pistillate flowers twice as long as the bracts, with a 

 spreading white border; utricle ovate, rugose above, 3-cleft at the apex. 

 South Florida. Stem 1- 1 long. Leaves |'- 1' long. 



5. SCLEROPUS, Schrad. 



Flowers moncecious, 3-bracted, triandrons. Calyx 5-sepalous. Utricle in- 

 dehiscent. Staminate flowers solitary, sessile in the upper nxils. Pistillate 

 flowers clustered in the lower axils, on flattened pedicels, which become indu- 

 rated and fall away with the mature fruit. Otherwise 2ike Amarautus and 

 Euxolus. 



