Amairmthics.] cvi. amarantace.e (baker axd clakke). 31 



the seed never escaping. In A. Blitutn it is sometimes tliin,niore or less dehiscent, 

 but not rarely it becomes succulent and is altogether indehiscent. In most of the 

 other species the fruit is thin. 



In some of the species with 3-merous perianth, two additional segments (smaller 

 and interior) are added in the stronger perfect tiowers, as shown by Scliinz (in Kngl. 

 & Prantl, Ptianzenfam. iii. lA, 93, t. 46, fig. A). Boissier says the perianth in 

 A. gangeticus {tricolor^ Linn.) is always 5-fid. ; Hooker f. says it is 3-fid. liotli 

 jMoquin and others found their JEuxolus caudatiis with 3 perianth-segments on a 

 plate which shows 5 perianth-segments (as see under A. viridis, below). As far as 

 I have seen, the small-flowered species of Amaranthus have always 3 perianth- 

 segments. In the subjoined table of species I have endeavoured to evade these 

 disputed points. 



Spikes linear, panicled at the ends of the branches j 

 some shorter axillary spikes sometimes added. 

 Perianth-segments ^-^ in, long, overtopping the fruits. 



Perianth-segments 5 ; axillary spikes rare . .1. A. caudatus. 



Perianth-segments 3 ; axillary spikes frequent . 2. A. tricolor. 



Perianth-segments -^^ in. long, about as long as the 

 fruits. 

 I^ower leaves (some of them) witli 2 axillary spines . 3. A. sjjuicstis. 

 Plants without spines. 



Fruit a pyxis . . . . . . . 4. A. patulus. 



Fruit wiinkled, herbaceous, indehiscent . . 5. A. viridis. 



Spikes axillary, running into a single oblong dense spike 6. A. oleraceus. 

 Spikes all axillary, short. 



Perianth-segments long-lanceolate, overtopping the 



fruits . . . . . . . . . 7. A. grcecizans. 



Perianth-segments suddenly acute, hardly as long as 

 the fruit. 

 Decumbent, much branched . . . . . 8. J. Blifum. 



Branches elongate . . . . . .9.-4. polggamus. 



1. A. caudatus, Linn. Sp. PL ed. 1, 990, ecZ. 2, 1406. An erect 

 annual, 1-3 ft. high. Leaf-blade narrow-elliptic, 2-5 in. long, some- 

 times a foot long. Spikes numerous (often 20, sometimes 80), 1-4 in. 

 long, dense, in a dense terminal panicle (the terminal spike often G in. 

 long) yellowish, usually becoming brown in fruit. Perianth y^^j in. long, 

 of 5 oblong scarcely acute segments, many with a short subterminal 

 mucro ; bracts (many of them) long-cuspidate, overtopping the perianth. 

 Capsule membranous, ultimately circumscissile ; style-branches (usually 

 3) very long ; seeds yellow with a rounded margin, or black with a 

 compressed margin. — Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 255 ; A. Rich. 

 Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 213 ; Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 176 ; 

 T. Thorns, in Speke, Nile, Append. 646 ; Oliver in Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 xxix. 140; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 719; Zarb in Cat. Spec. Bot. 

 Pfund, 33 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 988; Schinz in Engl, ct Prantl, Pflan- 

 zenfam. iii. 1 A, 103, fig. 56 ; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 205 ; Engl. 

 Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 172 ; Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. ^Q ; Durand k, 

 Schinz, Etudes Fl. Congo, i. 233 ; Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append, 

 ii. 163. A, panicidatus, Hook. Niger Fl. 492 ; Schinz in Engl. & 

 Prantl, Pflanzenfam.iii. lA, 103 ; Durand A: De Wild, in Comptes-rendus 

 Soc. Bot. Belg. xxxvi. 85 ; Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. v. Append, iii. 64 ; 



