6 AMARANTACE&. [ DEERINGIA. 



ovules few or many, on long funicles. Fruit a small globose berry 

 seated on the persistent spreading perianth. Seeds few or many, 

 reniform, compressed ; testa black, shining, aril none ; embryo 

 annular, surrounding the floury albumen ; cotyledons linear^ 

 radicle descending. Species 5-6, in Asia, Australia and the Pacific 

 Islands, and one in Madagascar. 



D. celosioides, R. Br. Prod. 413 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 682 ; Royle 

 III 320 ; F. B. I. iv, 714 ; Kaniilal For. FL ed. 2, 323 ; Gamble 

 Man. 550 ; Collet Fl. Siml. 412 ; Prain Beng. PL 866 ; Brand. 

 Ind. Trees 518. Cladostachys frutescens, Don Prod. 76 (excl. syn.} 

 Vern. Latman (Hind.), chundri (Dehra Dun). 



A climbing shrub with long slender arching striate branches ; bark thin, 

 rough, dark-grey. Leaves 2-4 in. long, ovate or broadly lanceolate,, 

 acuminate, entire ; base rounded or acute, rarely cordate, petiole 

 i-J in. long. Flowers small, pale yellowish-green, shortly pedicelied, 

 arranged in simple or branching racemes 4-10 in. long and forming 

 terminal panicles, bracts acute. Styles usually 3. Berry globose, 

 J-J in. in diam., supported by the persistent spreading perianth- 

 segments, scarlet when ripe. Seeds usually 3. 



Found in hedges and on the outskirts of forests in Dehra Dun and 

 eastwards in the Sub-Himalayan tracts of Bohilkhand and N. Oudh. 

 It flowers during Sep. and Oct., and in the cold season the panicles 

 of scarlet berries render it a conspicuous object. DISTRIB. : Subtrop. 

 Himalaya from the Sutlej to Bhutan, up to 5,000 ft. ; also in Chota 

 Nagpur, Assam, the Khasia Hills, Bengal and Upper Burma ; ex- 

 tending to the Malay Islands, China and Australia. Kanjilal states 

 that the juice of the fruit can be used as a substitute for red ink. 



2, CELOSIA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 714. 



Usually annual herbs, the stems often woody below. Leaves 

 alternate, usually petioled. Flowers 2-sexual, in dense terminal 

 and axillary spikes, sessile or shortly pedicelled, white or coloured ; 

 bracts and bracteoles scarious, shining. Perianth-segments 5, 

 connate below, scarious, erect in fruit. Stamens 5, filaments 

 united below in a membranous cup : anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 

 none. Ovary 1 -celled, containing 2 or more ovules attached to 

 long funicles ; styles short or long or none, sometimes elongating 

 in fruit ; stigmas simple or 2-3, subulate. Fruit a circumscissile 



