728 cxvi. AMARANTACE^J. (J. D. Hooker.) 



Plains of BENGAL, and from ASSAM to the PAN JAB ; ascending the HIMALAYA to 

 5000 ft. from Kumaon to Bhotan. CENTEAL INDIA and BEHAE, and summit of 

 Parusnath. CONCAN, Stocks. PEGU, M ' Clelland. BUEMA, Wallich, &c. DISTBIB. 

 China, Malay Islands, Philippines, E. and W. tropical Africa. 



Stem woody below ; branches straggling, several feet long. Leaves opposite and 

 alternate, soft, green, 1-4 in. long, sometimes almost rounded ; petiole -J in. 

 Spikes sessile, rarely peduncled, -1 in. Sepals ^ in. long, lanceolate. Wight has 

 erroneously figured the utricle as circumsciss and seed horizontal. I doubt if 

 M. sanguinolenta, Blume, and JE. timorensis, Moq., differ from this. 



VAE. ? subglobosa ; branches glabrous, spikes large subovoid or globose, |-| in. 

 diam., on slender peduncles. Mergui, Griffith (in Herb. Wight). This resembles 

 very indifferent specimens of Jff. scandens {M. velutina, Moq.) from the Philippines 

 (Cuming, No. 1635), but the spikes are larger. 



3. IE. glabrata, Hook. f. ; minutely hairy, leaves elliptic-ovate 

 subacute, spikes small cylindric panicled or fascicled towards the ends of the 

 branches glistening, bracts ovate equalling the very minute flowers, sepals 

 broadly oblong-ovate obtuse or apiculate sparingly hairy. 



BUEMA or MALA.T PENINSULA, Griffith. 



Habit of M. scandens, but the flowers are very minute, about T ' g in. long, with very 

 broad short and sparsely hairy bracts and sepals, the latter with usually a very broad 

 green midrib. Hance's A. scandens, var. from Canton, may be the same, but the 

 spikes are too young for comparison. 



** Spikes all axillary sessile. Leaves alternate. 



4. 2E. lanata, Juss.in Ann. Mus. xi. 131 ; erect or prostrate, branched 

 from the base, hoary tomentose, leaves small petioled elliptic orbicular- 

 obovate or orbicular obtuse or acute, spikes small very numerous oblong or 

 subcylindric densely woolly not glistening. Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 

 303 ; Wall. Cat. 6909 ; Wight Ic. t. 723 ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PL 168 ; 

 Dalz. Sf Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 217 ; Soiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 993. M. floribunda, 

 Wight Ic. t. 1776, the analysis only, and vol. v. t. 1776 bis, f. A. Achy- 

 ranthes villosa, ForsJc. Fl. ^a. Arab. 48. A. lanata, Linn. Sp. PI. 296 ; 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 676, and Ed. Carey $ Wall. ii. 503. Illecebrum lanatum, 

 Linn. Mant. Z^.Rheede Hort. Mai. x. t. 29 ; J3urm. Fl. Zeyl. t. 60, f. 1. 



Plains of BENGAL from Dacca and Behar westward to the Indus. The CONCAN, 

 CENTEAL INDIA, and throughout the DECCAN. CEYLON abundant. DISTEIB. 

 Westward to Arabia and tropical and S. Africa, Java, Philippines. 



Branches many, 6-10 in., from a woody stock, simple or divided, woolly. Leaves 

 \-\ in., woolly or glabrate. Spikes \-\ in., sometimes excessively crowded and 

 forming subglobose clusters. Sepals obtuse. Wight's t. 723 is probably A. scandens. 



5. IE. Wigrhtii, Hook.f. branches short woody and leaves beneath 

 densely woolly, leaves small broadly ovate or elliptic obtuse thick, clusters 

 all axillary sessile shortly oblong or globose densely woolly not glistening, 

 outer sepals linear-oblong ari state, inner obtuse. 



TEAVANCOEE ; at Courtallum, Wight. 



A low-growing bushy plant, 6-12 in. high, with many stiff branches as thick as a 

 crow-quill, from a stout woody tap-root. Leaves 1 in. long, narrowed into a short 

 petiole. Clusters - ^ in. long, with the acicular tips of the bracts and outer sepals a 

 little longer than the wool j flowers ^ in. long. 



*** Spikes peduncled. Sepals^. Leaves filiform in opposite fascicles. 



6. JE. XKonsonia, Mart. Beitr. Amarant. 83 ; stem hoary-tomentose 



