128 AMAKAXTHACEAE. 



ovoid, indehiseent. Seed lenticular; embryo annular; endosperm starchy. 

 [Greek, dry-loving, some species inhabiting dry situations.] About 10 species 

 of coastal distribution in tropical and subtropical America, Africa and Austral- 

 asia. Type species: Philoxerus conicus E. Br. 



1. Philoxerus vennicularis (L.) Xutt. Gen. 2: 78. 1818. 



Gomphrena vermicularis L. Sp. PI. 224. 1753. 



Lithophila vermiculata Uline, Field Mus. Bot. 2: 39. 1900. 



Fleshy, the stems prostrate, branched, 1-8 dm. long, the branches prostrate 

 or ascending, sometimes 1.5 dm. high. Leaves thick, or subterete, linear, 

 linear-oblong or clavate, 1-5 cm. long, acutish or blunt at the apex, narrowed 

 to the sessile base ; heads subglobose to cylindric, densely many-flowered, bright 

 white, 1-2.5 cm. long, 6-10 mm. thick; sepals about 3 mm. long, obtuse, a little 

 longer than the bracts. 



Margins of salt water ponds and on maritime rocks. Abaco and Great Ba- 

 hama to Watling's Island and the Anguilla Isles : — ^Florida ; West Indies ; northern 

 South America. Sampiee. Salt-weed. 



7. IRESINE P. Br. Hist. Jam. 358. 1756. 



Tall herbs, with opposite broad petioled leaves and small 3-bracted white 

 flowers, in large terminal panicles or panicled spikes. Calyx 5-parted, the 

 pistillate usually woolly. Stamens 5, rarely fewer; filaments united by their 

 bases, filiform; anthers 2-celled. Utricle very small, subglobose, indehiscent. 

 [Greek,' in allusion to the Avoolly pubescence.] About 40 species, natives of 

 ^'^arm and temperate regions. Type species: Celosia paniculata L. 



Leaves large, broadly ovate-lanceolate, acute. 1. 1. Celosia. 



Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, petiolate, obtuse. 2. /. fiavescens. 



Leaves linear, sessile or very nearly so. 3. /. inaguensis. 



1. Iresine Celosia L. Syst. ed. 10, 1291. 1759. 



Celosia paniciilata L. Sp. PI. 206. 1753. 



Iresine celosioides L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 1456. 1763. 



Iresine paniculata Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 542. 1891. Xot Poir. 1813. 



Annual or perennial ; stem erect, ascending or clambering, 0.6-3 m. long, 

 glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate or the upper lanceolate, 

 0.5-1.5 dm. long, acute or acuminate, the slender petioles 1-6 cm. long; flowers 

 very numerous, 2 mm. broad or less, calyx and bracts silvery; sepals 1-1.5 mm. 

 long; pistillate flowers white-villous at the base, about twice as long as the 

 bracts; utricle shorter than the sepals; seed red, shining, 0.5 mm in diameter. 



Coastal sands and on waste and cultivated lands, Abaco and Great Bahama : — 

 southeastern United States ; .Jamaica ; Cuba to Porto Rico ; Antiqua to Trinidad ; 

 Mexico to Brazil and Argentina. New-burn Weed. 



2. Iresine fiavescens H. & B.; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 766. 1806. 



Alternanthera fiavescens Moq. in DC. Prodr. 132: 350. 1849. 

 Iresine l^eyensis Millsp. Field Mus. Bot. 2: 148. 1906. 



Perennial by a woody root; stems erect, rather stout, 1 m. high or less, 

 glabrous, simple or much branched, the nodes often swollen. Leaves linear- 

 oblong to lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-10 cm. long, 0.4-2.5 cm. wide, mostly 

 obtuse or rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base, glabrous, the petioles 

 1 em. long or less; panicles narrow, dense, 1-3 dm. long, glabrous; spike.^ 0.3-4 



