Amarantus.~\ cxvi. AMAKANTACE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) 719 



longest, bracts acicular recurved very much longer than the oblong-lan- 

 ceolate acuminate sepals. Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 257 ; Willd. Amarant. 

 32, t. 2, f. 4; Wall. Cat. 6904, excl. F-, Dalz. $ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 215. 

 A speciosus, Sims Sot. Mag. t. 2227 ; Don Prodr. 75. A sanguineus, Linn. ; 

 Willd. I. c. t. 2, f. 3 ; Mill. Icon. t. 22. A. strictus, Willd. 1. c. t. 3, f. 5. 

 A. frurnentaceus, Ham. in Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 610; Moq, 1. c. 265; Wight Ic. 

 t. 720. A. farinaceus, Herb. Roxb. A. Anacardana, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 

 6903 ; Moq. 1. c. 256. A. flavus, var. 8. bracteatus, Linn. ; Moq. I. c. 258. 



Cultivated throughout INDIA and CEYLON, and up to 9000 ft. in the HIMALAYA. 

 DISTEIB. Cultivated or an escape in E. and W. Asia, and Africa. 



Stem 4-5 ft., sometimes thicker than the thumb, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves 

 2-6 by 1-3 in., base cuneate ; petiole as long. Spikes suberect, red, green or yellow. 

 Seeds ^ in. diam., either yellowish-white or pitchy black with a thickened rounded 

 border, or pitchy with a narrow thin border. 1 follow Moquin, Wallich, &c., in refer- 

 ring this to paniculatus of Linnaus with some doubt, and I am still more perplexed 

 about the synonyms I have cited, some of which may belong to the following species. 

 Boissier says of A. paniculatus that it is an introduction from America, whereas this 

 has been cultivated in India from time immemorial. Like the following, of which it 

 may be a form, the seeds vary extraordinarily in size, form and colour. 



3. A. caudatus, Linn. Sp. PL 990 ; tall, robust, stem striate, leaves 

 long-petioled elliptic- or ovate-lanceolate, tip obtuse, spikes in dense soft 

 thyrses hardly squarrose, centre one and often the lateral usually very long 

 and pendulous, bracts acicular longer than the obovate mucronate sepals. 

 Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 255; Wall. Cat. 6907; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 

 988. "A. paniculatus, Wall. Cat. 6904 F. A. cruentus, Willd., Roxb. 

 1. c.,610. A. c^audatus and A. Alopecurus, Hochst.\ Bouche fy Braun in 

 Append. Obs. Sot. ad Ind. Sent. Hort. Berol. 1872, 1. 



Cultivated in various parts of INDIA. DISTEIB. Various hot countries, wild or 

 cultivated. 



I find it very difficult to distinguish some states of this from A. paniculatus. In 

 its typical state it is a smaller plant with the leaves obtuse at the tip, more globose 

 softer masses of smaller red green or white flowers on the thfWse, the terminal spike 

 of which is very long, thick and drooping ; the acicular bracts are shorter and not 

 squarrose, the sepals shorter, broader, more obtuse and usually obovate-oblong, and 

 the utricle and seeds are smaller ; the latter present the same variations as in A. pani- 

 culatus. Bouche and Braun, from an examination of Abyssinian specimens cultivated' 

 at Berlin, point out the remarkable distinction between the two forms of seeds that 

 this and the foregoing species produce, one white or yellow with a very thick rounded 

 border (the true caudatus of old authors) ; the other lenticular and pitch-black with 

 a compressed border (A. alopecurus, Hochst.). The plants which bear them, how- 

 ever, present no other differences, and I have seen the black seed with the thick 

 border. 



** Bracts subulate, equalling or exceeding the 3 lanceolate sepals and 

 utricle. Stamens- 3. Utricle circumsciss. 



4. A. grangreticuSj inn. ; Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 261 ; erect, gla- 

 brous, leaves long-petioled ovate oblong or lanceolate obtuse or emarginate, 

 clusters crowded in the lower axils and forming a long terminal spike, 

 bracts awned, sepals long-awned much longer than the utricle. Willd. 

 Amarant. t. 6, f. 11 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 606 ; Wall. Cat. 6896, excl. C. 

 A. tricolor, Linn. Sp. PL 989; Roxb. I. c. 608, and Wall. Cat. 6902. 

 A. lanceolatus, Roxb. I. c. 607 ; Wall. Cat. 6895. A. tristis, Linn. Sp. PL 

 989? ; Roxb. 1. c. 604; Wall. Cat. 6905, A. C ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PI. 169; 

 Wight Ic. t. 713 ; Dalz. fy Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 215. A. oleraceus, Roxb. I. c. 

 605 ; Grah. 1. c. ; Wight Ic. t. 715, and Thwaites Enurn. 247, not of Linnaeus. 



