Alternanthera AMARANTACE^ 141 



half ; utricle included in the perianth. — Moq. torn. cit. 358 ; 

 Seuh. torn. cit. 185, t. 56 ; Urb. loc. cit. A. ficoidea Griseb. loc. 

 cit. (1859). Araaranthoides humile curassavicum foliis polygoni 

 Sloane Cat. 48 & Hist. i. 141, t. 86, /. 2. Herniaria hirsuta «fec. 

 Browne Hint. Jam. 104. Gomphrena polygonoides L. Sp. PI. 

 225 (1753) (with reference only to syn. Sloane). Illecebrum 

 polygonoides L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 300 (with refei*ence only to syn. 

 Sloane & Browne). Telanthera polygonoides Moq. torn. cit. 363 

 (1849) (excl. some varieties). 



Spanish Town, Sloane Herb. ii. 106 ! Houstoun 1 Kingston, Browne I 

 Wright I Shakspear ! Distin ! McNah ! Purdie t in pastures, Newmarket to 

 Darliston, 1150 ft. Harris I PI. Jam. 9869. — Bahamas, Cuba, Is. of Pines, 

 Hispaniola, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Martinique, 

 St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Mustique. tropical continental America. 



Stems glabrate, more or less woolly at apex of branches, to 6 dm. 1. or 

 more. Leaves 1-3 cm. 1., "5-1 cm. br., strigose or glabrescent. Heads 

 • 5-1 cm. 1. Bracts 2 mm. 1. ; bracteoles slightly longer. Flowers white. 

 Perianth, exterior segments 4 "25-4 '5 mm. 1., slightly brownish below; 

 median, slightly shorter than exterior, hirsute in lower half ; interior, 

 about 3*5 mm. 1., glabrous. Stamens 5, about 1-2 mm. 1.; staminodes 

 shorter than the filaments, dilated, apex toothed ; cup very short. Pistil 

 (incl. stigma) • 75 mm. 1. ; ovary broader than long. Utricle about 2 mm. 

 1., bluntly obreniform. 



9. PHILOXERUS R. Br. 



Prostrate herbs. Leaves opposite, entire, narrow. Flowers 

 hermaphrodite, scarious, capitate, with one bract and two 

 bracteoles ; heads axillary and terminal. Perianth with 5 seg- 

 ments, thickened at the base, supported by a spongy stalk. 

 Stamens 5, filaments united into a short cup at the base, 

 without alternating staminodes ; anthers l-celled. Ovary with 

 short style and 2 linear stigmas ; with one ovule at the end of 

 a long stalk. Utricle compressed, ovoid. Seed with annular 

 embryo. 



Species about 10, natives of eastern tropical America, west 

 Africa, Australia, and the Loochoo Islands. 



P. vermicularis Beauv. Fl. Ow. & Ben. ii. 65, t. 98, /. 1 

 (1807) ; Griseb. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 65 ; Urb. Symb. Ant. iv. 223. 

 Gomphrena vermicularis L. Sp. PI. 224 (1753). Gomphrena 

 repens rufescens &c. Browne Hist. Jam. 184. Illecebrum vermi- 

 culatum L. Sp. PL ed. 2, 300 (1762). Iresine vermicularis 

 Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. pt. 2, 340 (1849). Type in Herb. 

 Linn. (Fig. 46.) 



Rock-river, Browne I Broughton t Macfadyen I Parnell ! St. Thomas in 

 the East, Purdie 1 March 1 Montego Bay, Fawcett ! Pedro Bluff, Harris ! 

 Fl. Jam. 9813. — Florida, Bahamas, W. Indies, continental tropical 

 America, west Africa. 



