730 cxvi. AMARANTACEzE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Acliymnthes. 



Ovary oblong, subcompressed ; style filiform, stigma capitellate; ovule 1, 

 pendulous from a long basal funicle. Utricle oblong or ovoid, indehiscent, 

 top areolate or rounded. Seed inverse, oblong, testa coriaceous ; embryo 

 annular. Species 12, all tropical or subtropical. 



* Outer sepal longest. 



1. A. aquatica, Br. Prodr. 417; tall, stout, finely pubescent, leaves 

 elliptic -lanceolate acuminate, spikes elongate, rachis villous or pubescent, 

 flowers in. long, bracts small scarious, bracteoles orbicular, sepals rigid 

 glabrous, outer longer pungent. Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 673, and Ed. Carey fy 

 Wall. ii. 497. A. natans, Ham. in Wall. Cat. A. trichotoma, Perrott. 

 Herb. Seneg. n. 180. Centrostachys aquatica, Wall. Cat. 6932 ; Moq. in 

 DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 321 ; Endl. Iconog. t. 20. Celosia spinescens, Herb. 

 Mussel. 



NEPAL TEEAI, Wallich. ASSAM and SILHET, Griffith, De Silva. TENASSERIM ; 

 at Moulrnein, Wallich. CIKCAES and COEOMANDEL, Roxburgh. DISTEIB. Tropical 

 Africa. 



Stem 2-4 ft., as thick as the thumb below, straggling in the water and rooting 

 along the banks of rivers, &c., branched. Leaves 3-6 in., narrowed into a petiole, 

 3 1 in. Spikes 318 in. ; bracts small, membranous, concave, long-acuminate from an 

 ovate base ; bracteoles membranous, embracing the thickened perianth base. Perianth 

 shining, very variable in size and thickness, base much thickened. 



** Sepals subequal. 



2. A. aspera, Linn. Sp. PI. 204 ; leaves orbicular obovate or elliptic, 

 spikes rigid, bracteoles ovate half as long as their spine or longer, stamens 5, 

 staminodes fimbriate. Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 314; Boiss. Fl. Orient. 

 iv. 993 ; Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 072, and jEtf. Carey # Wall. ii. 496 ; Dalz. &[ Gibs. 

 Bomb. Fl. 218 ; Wight Ic. 1780 ; Wall. Cat. 6924, excl. H. 



Throughout INDIA and CEYLON; an abundant weed in dry places. DISTEIB. 

 Tropical Asia, Africa, Australia and America. 



Stem 1-3 ft., simple or branched. Leaves 15 in., extremely variable, generally 

 thick, pubescent tomentose or velvety, rarely glabrate ; petiole short. Spikes 

 usually with a robust rachis that rapidly lengthens, sometimes to a foot long. 

 Flowers - in., longer than the bracteoles. Staminodes fimbriate from the margin 

 or from an appendage below the margin behind. 



VAE. rubro-fusca ; leaves elliptic-ovate acute brown when dry. A. rubro-fusca, 

 Wight Ic. t. 1778 (A. viridis). Nilghiris, Wight. Ceylon. 



VAE. porphyristachya : much larger, 4-6 ft., diffusely branched, leaves 3-10 in. 

 broadly elliptic acuminate glabrous or pubescent, membranous, spikes with a more 

 slender rachis. A. porphyristachya, Wall. Cat. 6925 ; Moq. I. c. 316. ? A. argentea, 

 Thivaites Enum. 249. In moister climates than A., aspera proper. Sikkim 

 Himalaya, alt. 2-5000 ft. Chittagong, J. D. H. & T. T. Nilghiris, Wight, &c. 

 Ava, Wallich. ' 



VAE. argentea; leaves silverily silky beneath. A. argentea, Thwaites Enum. 

 249 ; LamJc. Diet. i. 545. Thwaites mentions this as found at Caltura by Moon, but 

 I have seen no specimens ; he includes under it A. porphyristachya and rubro-fusca, 

 which makes me doubt his being Lamarck's plant, which is an European, Arabian 

 and African one. 



3. A. bidentata, Blume Bijd. 545 ; branches slender rambling, leaves 



from elliptic to linear lanceolate acuminate glabrous or pubescent mem- 



, branous, spikes very slender, bracteoles usually reduced to a spine minutely 



2-auricled at the base, stamens 5, staminodes toothed. Moq. in IDC. Prodr. 



