NYCTAGINACEAE ( 4 -O'CLOCK FAMILY) 85 



parted. Stamens 1-5. Ovary superior, i-celled; stigmas 1-3. 

 Fruit a utricle. Seed i. Only the following genus. 



AMARANTHUS (PIGWEED) 



Leaves pinnately veined, petioled. Flowers mostly with 3-5 bractlets, 

 in dense terminal spikes or axillary clusters. Utricle 2~3-beaked by the 

 persistent styles. Mostly weeds. (Gk. amarantos unfading ; because 

 the colored calyx and bracts are chaffy and do not wither.) 



A. Stems erect, 3-20 dm. high; flowers in dense terminal spikes; sepals 5; stamens 5. 



B. Spikes green, stout, 8-14 mm. thick. E. A. retroflexus (ROUGH PIGWEED) 

 BB. Spikes purple, slender, 4-6 mm. thick. E. A. paniculatus (PURPLE PIGWEED) 



AA. Stems spreading or ascending (rarely erect in A. graecizans), 1.5-6 dm. long; 

 flowers crowded in close small axillary clusters; sepals 1-3 (4-5 in A. blitoides); 

 stamens 3 or fewer. 



C. Fertile flowers with 3 bracts and 3-5 sepals. 



D. Branches and flower heads and under side of leaves all pinkish to deep flesh- 

 color. E. A. carneus 

 DD. Branches and flower clusters and leaves all whitish or green. 

 E. Plant prostrate; sepals 3-5, very little longer than the bracts; fruit not 

 rugose; seed about 1.5 mm. wide. W. E. A. blitoides (PROSTRATE PIGWEED) 

 EE. Plant ascending or erect; sepals 3, much longer than the bracts; fruit rugose; 

 seed about 0.8 mm. wide. E. A. graecizans (TUMBLEWEED) 

 CC. Fertile flowers with i bract and i sepal. E. A. californicus 



NYCTAGINACEAE ( 4 -O'cLOCK FAMILY) 



Herbs; juice watery. Stems fragile; joints swollen. Leaves 

 opposite, simple, entire, petioled; stipules none. Flowers perfect, 

 in terminal or axillary clusters; clusters involucrate. Perianth 

 corolla-like, tubular or campanulate or salverform, 4~5-lobed or 

 toothed. Stamens few. Ovary superior, i -celled; stigma capi- 

 tate. Fruit in akene, somewhat ribbed or grooved or winged, in- 

 closed by the hardened perianth base. Seed i. 



A. Leaves narrowly ovate or wider; perianth not purple. 



B. Flowers about 5 cm. long; involucre bracts 25-38 mm. long, united to above 

 their middle; fruit not winged nor even strongly angled. C. E. (L. mirabilis 

 = wonderful; any striking flower is wonderful when first found.) C. E. 



Mirabilis greenei U-O'CLOCK) 



BB. Flowers 1-2.5 cm. long; involucre bracts 4-19 mm. long, distinct to base; 

 fruit 3-5 -winged. ABRONIA (p. 85) 



AA. Leaves linear; perianth purple. E. (Honor of C. Allioni, an Italian bot- 

 anist.) Allionia linearis (UMBRELLA-WORT) 



ABRONIA (ABRONIA) 



Perennial ; stems prostrate to erect, mostly glandular-pubescent. Leaves 

 thick, one of each pair somewhat the larger. Flowers sessile, conspicuous ; 



