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PHY TOLACCA AMARANTHACE 589 
AMARANTHU < 
inserted at the base of the calyx. Ovary globose, of 5-15 distinct 
or somewhat united carpels. Fruit a depressed-globose berry. 
Seeds erect, compressed. Embryo annular, in mealy albumen. 
P. decandra L. Sp, ed. 2, 631. (Pokr-BERRY) Glabrous and succulent: 
stems 4-12 feet high, stout, erect, branched: leaves oblong-lanceolate or 
ovate-lanceolate, pinnately veined, acute or acuminate at both ends, 8-12 
inches long, petioled : racemes peduncled. 2-8 inches long: pedicels diverg- 
ent, 2-6 lines long, each with a subulate-lanceolate branchlet at its base, 
and usually 2 linear ones above: flowers perfect: calyx white, 2-3 lines 
broad, its sepals suborbicular or oval: stamens 10, slightly shorter than 
the sepals: berry dark purple, 5-6 lines in diameter, 10-celled. In waste 
places in southern Oregon: introduced from the Eastern States. 
OrpeR LXXVIT AMARANTHACE J. St. Hil. Expos. 
Fam. 204, (1805,) 
Herbs or low shrubs with simple leaves without stipules and 
small moneecious, polygamous or dicecious flowers usually in 
terminal spikes or axillary heads. calyx herbaceous or mem- 
branaceous, 2-5-parted, the segments distinct or united at base. 
Stamens 1-5. mostly opposite the segments of the calyx, hypo- 
gynous. Ovary 1-celled, usually with a solitary amphitropous 
ovule. Style short, elongated or none: stigmas 1-3. Fruit an 
utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent. 
1 AMARANTHUS L. Sp, 989. (Pia WEEp.) 
Annual herbs with alternate petioled entire leaves and small 
green or purplish mostly 3-bracteolate flowers in dense terminal 
spikes or axillary clusters. Calyx of 2-5 distinct sepals. Sta- 
mens 2—5: anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Styles or 
stigmas 2 or3. Fruit autricle beaked by the persistent style. 
* Sepals 5, bracts 3. - 
A. uHysripus L. Sp. 990. Pubescent to nearly glabrous, green to pur- 
ple: stem rather slender, 2 inches to 8 feet high, usually branched: leaves 
bright green on both sides or paler beneath, ovate or rhombic-ovate, 1-6 
inches long, on slender petioles: flowers very numerous, in dense linear- 
cylindric ascending or spreading spikes, forming dense terminal panicles: 
bracts subulate, 2-3 lines long: sepals 5, oblong, acute or cuspidate, about 
half as long as the bracts: stamens 5: utricle smooth, circumscissile. 
Common in fields and waste places: naturalized from Tropical America. 
* * Sepals 3: bracts 3. 
A. blitoides Watson Proc. Am. Acad. xii, 273. Nearly or quite glab- 
aous, pale green: stem much branched from the base, the branches prostr- 
te and spreading, rigid, 6-20 inches long: leaves obovate to spatulate 3-12 
ines long, obtuse to acute at the apex, narrowed into slender petioles: 
flowers in small axillary clusters mostly shorter than the petioles: bracts 
subulate-lanceolate, little longer than the 4 or 5 oblong-lanceolate acute 
or cuspidate sepals: stamens 3: utricle nearly smooth. In waste places 
and roadsides Idaho to the Atlantic States. 
A. qaramczans L. Sp. 990. <A. albus L. Glabrous: stem erect, 6-24 
inches high whitish diffusely and widely branched: leaves oblong, spatul- 
ate or obovate, 6-18, lines long, pale green, long-petioled: fluwers poly- 
gamous, in small axillary clusters shorter than the leaves: bracts subu- 
