724 cxvi. AMARANTACE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) [Pupalia. 



NEPAL, Wallich. BENGAL; Maldah, Clarke. DECCAN PENINSULA, from 

 Guzerat southward, Singapore and Penaug, Wallich. CEYLON. DISTEIB. Java, 

 Madagascar, S. Africa, Philippines. 



Biennial or annual, 2-5 It. ; branches long, straggling, glabrous. Leaves 1-5 in., 

 membranous, narrowed into the ($-1 in.) petiole. Spikes 1-10 in. ; rachis sparsely 

 pubescent ; clusters sessile, flowei'ing \ in., fruiting rarely | in. diam. ; bracts broadly 

 ovate, pungent. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, woolly. Awns often purplish. 



2. P. orbiculata, Wight Ic. t. 1783; sparsely pubescent, robust, 

 leaves short-petioled orbicular very broadly ovate or elliptic obtuse or 

 retuse nearly glabrous, spikes stont, clusters distant woolly. Dalz. 4" Gibs. 

 Bomb. Fl. 219. Cyathula orbiculata, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 330. Achy- 

 ranthes orbiculata, Heyne in Boxb. FL Ind., Ed. Carey fy Wall. ii. 507. A. 

 rotundifolia, Klein, mss. Desmochaeta orbiculata, Wall. Cat. 6936. 



CONCAN GHATS (Dalzell). The CAENATIC ; in sandy soil near the sea, Heyne, 

 &c. CEYLON ; Jaffna, Moon. 



Stem stout, erect from a woody stock, terete, glabrate or hispidulous, rarely 

 tomentose. Leaves 1-1 in. diam., rigid and brown when dry, suddenly narrowed 

 into the flattened petiole. Spikes 4-8 in., rachis stout, sparsely hairy or pubescent ; 

 when flowering clusters in. long, fruiting f in., spines pale ; outer bract short with 

 a long spine, inner narrow. 



3. P. lappacea, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 331 ; shrubby below, 

 tomentose, leaves short-petioled from broadly ovate to lanceolate acute or 

 subacute, clusters remote or approximate, outermost bract very broad mem- 

 branous, sepals 3-nerved, densely woolly. Dalz. fy Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 219 ; 

 Miquel FL. Ind. Bat. i. 1046. Achyranthes lappacea, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. i. 

 204. A. echinata, Retz. Obs. ii. 12. A. patula, Linn. Suppl. 160. A. 

 lappacea, echinata & patula, Willd. Sp. PI. i. 1192, 1193. A. styracifolia, 

 Lamk. Diet. i. 546, excl. syn. Desmochaeta flavescens, DC. Cat. Sort. 

 Monsp. 102 ; Wall. Cat. 6934. D. patula, Eoem. 6f Schult. Syst. v. 550. 

 Amarantus arctioideus, Perrottet PI. JSxsic. No. 94. 



UPPER GANGETIC VALLEY and PANJAB. WESTERN TROPICAL HIMALAYA, alt. 

 1-3000 ft., from Kashmir to Kumaon. BEHAR, SCINDE, GUZERAT and the DECCAN 

 PENINSULA. DISTRIB. Tropical Asia and Africa. 



A large straggling undershrub ; branches terete. Leaves 2-4 in., base acute; 

 petiole -i in. Flowering clusters | in long, fruiting | in. diam. 



VAR. velutina ; erect, subsimple, densely villously tomentose, leaves J* 1 in., 

 .shortly pttioled orbicular. Desmochaeta velutina, Wail. Cat. 6935 ; Moq. I.' c. 332. 

 2Erua velutina, Moq. I. c. 301. Deccan Peninsula, Wight in Herb. Wall. Burma, 

 at Loungee Yenong and Pagham on the Irawaddi, Wallich. Moquin has described 

 Wallich's 6935 under both DesmochtBta and JErua, quoting the same number in 

 each case. 



10. PSXX.OTRXCHUBI, Blume. 



Herbs or shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers white or greenish, in 

 solitary or panicled dense clusters or spikes. Sepals 5, hard ; outer boat- 

 shaped, gibbous below, ribbed. Stamens 5, unequal, connate below into 

 a cup ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 0. Ovary oblong or subglobose ; style 

 slender, stigma capitellate or 2-fid ; ovule 1, pendulous from a long basal 

 funicle. Utricle globose or compressed, indehiscent. Seed inverse, lenticular, 

 testa coriaceous or crustaceous ; embryo annular. Species 10, Asiatic, 

 African and Pacific. 



* Shrubs or undershrubs with woody stocks and lower branches. 



1. P- nudum, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 280; shrubby, branches 



