62 CVI. AMARANTACE^ (bAKER AND CLARKE). [Chionothrix. 



iDto a cup by an acute sinus, without intermediate staminodes ; anthers 

 with 2 oblong cells. Ovary ovoid, glabrous ; style linear, as long as 

 the ovary; stigma small, cjxpitate ; ovule 1, suspended on a basal 

 funicle. — Shrubs. Leaves opposite. Spikes linear, 1-4 at the end of 

 the branches. 



Species 2, endemic. 



This genus differs as to characters very little from Psilotrichum. 

 Leaves ^-f iu. long, obscurely pubescent beneath . 1. C. .somalens^is. 



Leaves 1^ in. long, thickly tomentose beneath . . 2. C. latifolia. 



1. C. soxnalensis. Hook. j. in Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 33. 

 A grey pubescent shrub, nearly 10 ft. high. Leaves opposite; blade 

 J-| in. long, obovate ; petioles -^^ in. long. Spikes 5-7 in. long, with 

 40-GO flowers, but sometimes very much smaller. Bract and bracteoles 

 hardly \ in. long, obscurely pubescent. Young perianth oblong, snow- 

 white.— Hook. Ic. PI. t. 2226 ; Schinz in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 

 iii. lA, 111. Sericocoma somalensis, S. Moore in Journ. Bot. 1877, 70. 



wile Xiand. British Somaliland : Ahl Mountains, 3600 ft., Hildehrandty 

 1519! 



2. C. latifolia, RencUe in Journ. Bot. 1896, 54. A woody shrub, 

 several feet high. Leaves opposite; blade 1^ by 1 in., ovate, obtuse, 

 closely tomentose beneath ; petiole \ in. long. Spikes 1-2 in. long, 

 terminal and from the upper axils, forming a quasi-paniculate in- 

 florescence. Perianth nearly as of small examples of C. somalensis. 



irile Xiand. Somaliland : Shebele River, Donaldson Smith ! 



16. ACHYRANTHES, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 35. 



Flowers perfect, solitary, i.e. without sterile flowers or rudimentary 

 bracts, each between 2 bracteoles, usually acute or spinescent. Perianth- 

 segments i in. long or more, oblong, muticous or mucronate, glabrous 

 (except in A. lanuginosa). Filaments 5, linear to the base ; the inter- 

 posed staminodes quadrate, usually fimbriate at the top ; anther-cells 2, 

 oblong. Ovary ovoid or obovoid, glabrous or minutely granular-papillose 

 at the top; style linear; stigma small, capitate; ovule 1, on a basal 

 funicle. Utricle obovoid ; seed ellipsoid ; embryo curled. Perianth in 

 fruit deflexed, close to the rhachis, pointed vertically downwards. — 

 Leaves opposite, petioled. Spikes linear-cylindric, in fruit often a foot 

 long and (except in A. lanuginosa) interrupted at the base. 



Species 6, in the warm parts of the Old World. A. aspera, Linn., is a weed, 

 wide-spreiid, and various subspecies have been carved out of it. 

 Perianth glabrous. 



Bracteoks longer than half the perianth. 



Leaves 2-3 in. long . . . . . .1. A. aspera. 



Leaves 4-10 in. long 2. A. lidentata. 



Bracteolea one-fcurth the length of the perianth . 3. A. aquatica. 

 Perianth densely white-woolly . 4. A. lamiginosa. 



