AMARANTHACEAE. 135 



or axillary heads; calyx herbaceous or membranaceous, 2-5- 

 parted, the segments distinct or united at the base, equal, or the 

 inner ones smaller; petals none; stamens 1-5, mostly opposite 

 the calyx-segments, hypogynous; ovary 1 -celled; ovule 1 (in 

 ours) ; fruit a utricle, 1-seeded (in ours) ; endosperm mealy, 

 usually copious. 



166. AMARANTHUS. AMARANTH. 



Annual branched erect or diffusely spreading, glabrous or 

 pubescent herbs; leaves alternate, petioled, pinnately veined, 

 entire, undulate or crisped; flowers small, green or purplish, 

 mostly 3-bracteolate, in dense terminal spikes or axillary clusters ; 

 calyx of 25 distinct sepals; stamens 25; fruit an ovoid or 

 oblong utricle, 2-3-beaked with the persistent style. Mostly 

 pernicious weeds. 



Flowers in dense terminal spikes. A. retroflexus. 

 Flowers in axillary clusters. 



Plant erect, much branched; fruit rugose. A. graecizans. 



Plant prostrate; fruit not rugose. A. blitoides. 



Amaranthus retroflexus L. Pigweed. Stem stout, 50-200 cm. tall, erect, 

 pubescent, simple or branched; leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate, acute or obtuse, 

 obscurely crenate or entire, minutely roughened, 3-10 cm. long, slender- 

 petioled; spikes very dense, cylindric, erect, in large panicles; bracts subulate, 

 4-5 mm. long; sepals 5, oblong, acute, obtuse or emarginate. 



Introduced in waste places. 



Amaranthus graecizans L. Tumbleweed. Erect, pale green, much 

 branched, glabrous or nearly so, 15-60 cm. tall; leaves oblong or narrowly 

 obovate, obtuse or emarginate, 2-3 cm. long, short-petioled ; flowers in small 

 axillary clusters; bracts subulate, spiny-pointed, much exceeding the sepals; 

 sepals 3, oblong-lanceolate, membranous; fruit roughened. 



Departure Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Macoun. 



Amaranthus blitoides Wats. Very similar to A . graecizans but the branches 

 prostrate, 30-60 cm. long; bracts ovate-oblong, acuminate, little longer than 

 the sepals; fruit smooth. 



Departure Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Macoun. 



Family 36. NYCT AGIN ACE AE. FOUR O'CLOCK FAMILY. 



Herbs (in ours) with stems swollen at the joints; leaves oppo- 

 site, entire; flowers in a terminal or axillary cluster subtended 

 by an involucre; calyx tubular or funnelform, corolla-like; petals 

 none; stamens 3-5, hypogynous; ovary 1 -celled, 1-seeded, 

 enclosed by the calyx-tube which is constricted above the ovary 

 and is hardened in fruit into a nut-like pericarp. 



