Amarantus.] cxvi. AMARANTACE/E. (J. I). Hooker.) 721 



Wight Ic. t. 717 (bad} ; Euxolus caudatus, Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 274 ; 

 Wifjht Ic. t. 1773. Albersia caudata, Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 992. Cheno- 

 podium caudatum, Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 344. 



Throughout INDIA, in waste places. DISTEIB. All tropical and warm countries. 



Stem 1-2 ft. , rarely decumbent below. Leaves 1-2 in., variable in breadth ; petiole 

 equalling the blade or shorter. Clusters lax, on slender branches; flowers 3 ' n in. long ; 

 brads and sepals ovate-oblong, acute, membranous with a green keel. Styles 2-3. Seed 

 3 ';j in diam., pitchy black, border obtuse. This is the A. viridis of Herb. Linn. A. 

 fasciatus, Roxb., is a sport with a pale crescentic band across the leaf. Eaten, but 

 not cultivated (Roxb.). 



JB. A. Blitum, Linn. Sp. PL 990; annual, erect or decumbent, glabrous, 

 leaves long-petioled oblong-ovate or rounded obtuse retuse or 2-lobed, base 

 aciyte, clusters all axillary or the upper in a dense or lax spike, sepals 3 

 shorter than the utricle linear-oblong or -lanceolate obtuse and apiculate or 

 acute, utricle orbicular or broadly ovate membranous dehiscent or not. 



Waste places throughout INDIA and CEYLON. DISTEIB. temperate and tropical 

 regions. 



I find it impossible satisfactorily to discriminate the Indian forms of this variable 

 weed from one another, and from A. polygamus ; I recognize the following varieties as 

 more or less constant. 



A, Blitum, Linn. Herb. ; procumbent, leaves small 2-lobed, sepals oblong obtuse 

 apiculate, clusters small all axillary, utricle indehiscent (A. Blitum, Herb. Fries e 

 Scania). A tristis, Wall. Cat. 6905 D. A weed, not cultivated. 



VAR. A. oleraceus, Linn. Sp. PI. 1403; tall, succulent, usually erect, leaves ovate 

 oblong or rounded, top rounded or 2-lobed, clusters axillary and in terminal simple 

 or lobed spikqs, sepals linear-oblong obtuse or acute, utricle indehiscent. Willd. 

 Amarant. t. 5, f. 9. A. adscendens, Reichb. Ic. Grit. v. t. 472 (by error spicatus). A. 

 gangeticus, Wall. Cat. 6896 C. A. polygamus, Wall. Cat. 6899 D. Euxolus oleraceus, 

 lividus & viridis, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 273. E. oleraceus, Dalz. Sf Gibs. Bomb. 

 Fl. 216. Albersia oleracea & livida, Kunth Fl. Berol. ii. 144. Pyxidium oleraceum, 

 lividum & viride, Moench Meth. 359. Cultivated in India and elsewhere. I find this 

 in the Kew Herbarium as A. Blitum, Japan (Maximov.) ; Geneva (Herb. Boiss.) ; A. 

 lividus, Hort. Petrop. ; A. adscendens, Hort. Petrop. and Herb. Requien ; A. Blitum, 

 var. adscendens, Herb. Gay ; and A. miniatus, Hort. Avignon and Monsp. 



VAR. A. sylvestris, Desf. Cat. Hort. Par. 41 ; erect, simple or branched, leaves 

 oblong or obovate-oblong obtuse, clusters all axillary sessile, sepals linear keeled 

 mucronate, utricle rugose or smooth circumsciss. Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 990. A. 

 Blitum, var. sylvestris, Moq. 1. c. 263. Kashmir, alt. 4-6000 ft., Thomson (Europ., 

 Asiat.). 



9. A. polyg'amus, Linn. Amcen. Acad. iv. 294 (not of Roxb.) ; stem 

 prostrate or ascending, leaves small obovate oblong or ovate obtuse rarely 

 retuse or 2-lo,bed, often rigid and apiculate, clusters all axillary, sepals 3 as 

 long as the utricle or shorter subulate acuminate, utricle ovoid rugose 

 dehiscent or not. Thwaites JEnum. 247. A. polygonoides, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 

 iii. 602 ; Wight Ic. t. 512, 719 ; Wall. Cat. 6906. A. Blitum, var. poly- 

 gonoides, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 263. A. tenuifolius, Wall. Cat. 6893 E. 

 Amblogyna polygonoides, Dalz. 3[ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 219. Albersia poly- 

 gama, Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 991. Euxolus polygamus, Moq. in DC. Prodr. 

 1. c. 272 ; Tkwaites Enum. 248, excl. syn. Amblogyne. 



Throughout INDIA and CEFLON, abundant. DISTRIB. All hot countries. 



I believe that this can only be ranked as a form of A. Blitum (the Linnean form), 

 with small usually obovate apiculate leaves, fewer flowers in a cluster, often larger 

 more subulate sepals and smaller more acute utricles. 



VAR. angustifolia ; steins and branches angled grooved rigid erect or ascending, 

 leaves linear or linear-oblong more rigid. The Panjab, Thomson. Mooltan, Edge- 

 VOL. IV. 3 A 



