36 cvi. AMARANTACEiE (baker AND clarke). [Amaranthus. 



In all warm countries. 



Sir J. D. Hooker has examined Amarantacece with great exactness, and has 

 named the Tropical African species in Kew herbarium. I follow him closely, and 

 have nothing to add (as regards the present group) to his remarks (cited above in 

 the Flora Brit. Ind.). A. Blitum, T. Thoms. in Speke, Nile, Append. 646 ; Oliver 

 in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 141, was {fide Thomson) 3 to 5 ft. high, and could not 

 have been the plant here called A. Blitum, Linn. 



9. A. polygamus, Linn. Amcen. Acad. iv. 294, and Sp. PI. ed. ii. 

 1403. Suberect, stouter, up to 2 ft. high, with long branches. Leaves 

 variable in size; petioles often very long; blade (in Schweinfurth. 

 626) 2 by 1 in., ovate-elliptic. Inflorescence wholly axillary, not 

 running into a leafless terminal spicate mass; otherwise as A. BHtum, 

 Linn.— Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 721; Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 172. 

 Eiiocolus polygamus, Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii. ii. 272. Alhersia 

 polygama, Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 175; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, iv. 991; Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. Append, ii. 164. 

 A. polygonoides, Zarb in Cat. Spec. Bot. Pfund, 33. 



Upper Guinea. Togo : near Lome, Warnecke, 363 ! 



xrile Ziand. Eritrea : Saati, Schweinfurth, 486 ; Massowa, Schweinfurth^ 

 499; Shoho, Quartin- Dillon Sf Petit, 223! Galabat: Matamma, Schweinfurth, 

 626! Kordofan: Arashkol Mountain, Kotschy, 82! British East Africa: near 

 Nairobi, Whyte ! 



Mozamb. Blst. British Central Africa : Nvasaland, Shire Highlands, Adam- 

 ton, 309 ! Buchanan, 703 ! 



Widely distributed in all warm regions. 



Imperfectly known species. 



10. A. abyssinicuSy Schinz in Engl, d: Prantl, PJlanzenfam. iii. 

 lA, 103. 



It has not been discovered where Schinz has described this species. 



6. MECHOWIA, Schinz in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iii. lA, 110. 



Perfect flower solitary ; supported by 2 bracteoles, much shorter 

 than the flower. Perianth-segments elliptic-oblong, obtuse, hard, 

 glabrous. Filaments 5, linear, slightly widened at the base and connate 

 into a short tube, without any staminodes. Ovary ovoid, covered with 

 copious long wool; style long linear; stigma small capitate; ovule 1, 

 suspended on a basal f unicle. — Leaves alternate. Heads ovoid, dense, on 

 terminal and penultimate peduncles. 



Species 1, endemic. 



1. M. ^Y?i'j[i^itLoY2L^ Schinz in Engl, d- Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iii. lA, 

 110. Branches 6-10 in. long, rigid, from a woody base; at the top 

 angular and pubescent. Leaves 2 by 4 in., elliptic or oblong, tip obtuse, 

 sometimes apiculate, base narrowed, hardly petioled, nearly glabrous. 

 Peduncles 1-2 in. long, pubescent. Heads i-f in. in diam., dense. 



I 



