8 AMARANTACEJE. [ DIGEEA. 



outer reduced to crested scales, the central one perfect. Perianth 

 Bub-membranous, calycine ; segments 5, slightly connate below, 

 oblong, erect, the 2 outer larger. Stamens 5, hypogynous ; filaments 

 free, filiform ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes none. Ovary 1- 

 celled, oblong, compressed, truncate ; style filiform ; stigmas 2, 

 recurved ; ovule solitary, erect. Fruit a subglobose crustaceous 

 nut, included in the perianth. Seed subglobose, erect ; testa thin, 

 crustaceous, brown, adhering to the albumen, embryo annular, 

 cotyledons linear, radicle descending. A single species, occurring 

 in India and Ceylon, and extending to Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 

 Arabia and N. Africa. 



D. arvensis, Forsk. Fl. ^Egypt-Arab. 65 ; Royle 111 320 ; F. B. 

 1. iv, 717 ; Watt E. D. ; Prain Beng. PL 868; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 

 487. Achyranthes alternifolia, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 674. 



A slender annual weed of cultivation, or sometimes becoming perennial 

 and with spreading prostrate branches. Leave,? glabrous, very vari- 

 able, -|-3 in. long, ovate or elliptic, acute or rounded at the apex, 

 base rounded or cuneate, margins often tinged with red ; petioles 

 slender, J-l in. long. Flowers sessile, forming lax axillary peduncled 

 spikes 1-5 in. long ; bracts and bracteoles shorter than the perianth, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, submembranous, persistent. Perianth pink, 

 J in. long ; segments ovate-oblong, acute. Fruit J-j 1 ^ in. in diam., 

 slightly compressed and margined, muriculate. 



Common and widely distributed over the area of this flora, flowering 

 usually after the rains are over. DISTBIB. : Plains of N. India from 

 the Punjab to Bengal, and in Western C. and S. India ; extending to 

 Ceylon, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Arabia and N. Africa. The leaves 

 are often used as a pot-herb. 



4. AMARANTUS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit, Ind. iv, 718. 



Erect or decumbent annual herbs. Leaves alternate. Flowers 

 small, monoecious or polygamous, arranged in axillary clusters or 

 in dense terminal and axillary spikes or panicles ; bracts herbaceous, 

 often persistent ; bracteoles 2. MALE fl. : Perianth of 5 (rarely, 1-3) 

 membranous ovate-lanceolate segments. Stamens 5 (rarely 1-3) ; 

 filaments free, subulate or filiform ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 

 none. FEM. fl. Perianth-segments oblong or spathulate, erect in 

 fruit. Ovary ovoid, compressed ; style short or none, stigmas 2 or 



