372 



AMARANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 



distinguished from the following species chiefly by its smoother character, thicker 

 spikes, and longer-awned bracts. 



4. A. PANICUL\TUS L. (PURPLE A.) Stem mostly pubescent; leaves 

 oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; spikes long, numerous and slender, panicled, 

 spreading; bracts merely awn-pointed; flowers small, green tinged with red, or 

 sometimes crimson ; fruit 2-3-toothed at the apex, longer than the calyx. (A. 

 hybridus, var. Uline & Bray.) Roadsides, etc. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



* * Flowers crowded in close and small axillary clusters ; stems low, spreading 

 or ascending; stamens and sepals 3, or the former only 2. 



5. A. graecizans L. (TUMBLE WEED.) Smooth, pale 

 green ; stems whitish, erect or ascending, diffusely branched ; 

 leaves small, obovate and spat ulate- oblong, very obtuse or 

 retuse ; flowers greenish ; sepals 



acuminate, half the length of the 

 rugose fruit, much shorter than 

 the subulate rigid pungently pointed 

 bracts; seed small, 0.8mm. broad. 

 (A. albus L.) Waste grounds, 

 common. FIG. 720. 



6. A. blitoides Wats. Like the 

 last, but prostrate or decumbent; 

 spikelets usually contracted ; bracts 

 ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate; 



sepals obtuse or acute ; fruit not rugose ; seed about 

 1.5 mm. broad. From Minn, to Mo., Tex., and 

 westw. ; also introduced eastw. , chiefly on railroad 



720. A. graecizans 



721. A. blitoides. 



ballast. FIG. 721. 



Tip of branch x 2 / 3 . Seed x 4. 



2. Utricle thinnish, bursting or imperfectly circtimscissile ; flowers monoecious. 

 7. A. spiN6sus L. (THORNY A.) Smooth, bushy-branched ; stem reddish ; 

 leaves rhombic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, dull green, a pair of spines in their 

 axils ; upper clusters sterile, forming long and slender spikes ; the fertile globular 

 and mostly in the axils ; flowers yellowish-green, small. Waste grounds, Me. 

 to Minn., and southw. (Nat. from Trop. Am.) 



3. EtlXOLUS (Raf.) Gray. Utricle remaining closed or bursting irregu- 

 larly ; no spines ; bracts inconspicuous. 



* Leaves relatively large (2-3 cm. in breadth). 



8. A. LfviDus L. Stem fleshy, red ; leaves emarginate, ovate 

 or obovate, 2-4 cm. long, on petioles two thirds as long ; bracts 

 very short ; utricle thin, smooth. About Atlantic ports, not very 

 common. FIG. 722. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



9. A. vfRiDis L. Similar, but with a warty 

 utricle. About Atlantic ports; also reported in 



O. FIG. 723. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) ;_>:?. A. viridis. 



* * Leaves smaller. ( !ll . vx ail(1 utrlcle 



10. A. pumilus Raf. Low or prostrate ; leaves fleshy and 



obovate, emaruinate, stroimlv nerved; flower-clusters small and aorilliiry ; 

 stamens <n><\ .sv-/^/s 6, the latter half the length of the obscurely 5-ribbed fruit. 

 Sandy beaches, R. I. to N. C. 



11. A. ]>KIM':XUS L. Low, spreading; leaves ovate, thin, flat ; spikes HneMy 

 terminal, thiekish, bluntly cordate; utricle ovoid, smooth, 5-nerved, much 

 longer than the sepals. Waste land near the larger Atlantic ports. (Adv. 

 from Eu.) 



]'2. A. rinsi-rs (Lesp. & The'v.) A. Br. Very slender, procumbent, pubes- 

 cent; leaves small, light green, rhm,ibi,--ovate to -lanceolate, acute, the mar-in 

 rrisjn;t and undulate; Mowers in small axillary clusters; bracts and aepau 

 scarious, oblanceolate, acute or obtuse ; utricle about as long, roughened, neither 



722. A. lividus. 



Calyx and utricle 



x8. 



