MOXADELPHIA. TENTANDRIA. 79 



Herbaceous, leaves opposiie, enth-e, witliout stipules; 

 panicle simple, terminal; spikes opposite, sessile; flowers 

 unibracteute; bractes acute, adhering to the lanuginoua 



racliis. 



Species. O. Floridana. 



Descript. Root perennial? Stem simple, erect, pu» 

 bescent, glandular, terete and striate, tumid at the joints. 

 Leaves sessile, remote, long- and lanceolate, acute, upper 

 side singularly scabrous, the papilix minute, very nume- 

 rous, and shortly piliferous, under surface densely and se- 

 riceously lanuginous. Panicle virgate, naked,' simple; 

 spikes remote, sessile, and opposite, 10 to 15 lines long. 

 Flowers imbricated, whitish. Kxterior calix diaphanous- 

 ly membranaceous, truncate and emarginate, about half 

 the length of the interior; interior ovate, compressed, co- 

 vered with a long and silky tomentum similar to cotton as 

 in Gomphrena, summit connivent, 5-clefi, enlarging over 

 the fruit it becomes at length cartilaginously indurated, 

 and muricate with 2 crested lacerate margins, there are 

 also 2 dorsal protuberances on either side near the base, 

 so that the fruit perfectly resembles that of several spe- 

 cies of Atriplcx wlien deprived of the tomentum. An- 

 theriferous tube about the length of the calix, having a 

 margin of 5 linear teeth, anthers linear, attached by the 

 middle. Utriculus 1-seeded, ovate-lanceoiate, compress- 

 ed. Seed brown. Hab. On the banks of the Altamaha, 

 Florida. — Baldwyn. This plant appears almost interme- 

 diately allied to GoinphrcJia and Achyranthes. 



A second species of this genus is Gomphrena interrupta 

 of Jamaica, so well illustrated by L'Heritier, Stirp. Nov, 

 1. p. 5. t. 3. it possesses precisely the habit of our O. 

 Ji'iridana, but the leaves are spathulate and obtuse, the 

 stem not quite erect, and the spikes approximate. 



472. ACHYRANTHES. L. 



Calix 5-Ieaved. Corolla none. Squamulce 5, 

 united into a tube at the base, the points fim- 

 briate and alternating with the stamina. Stigma 

 bifid. Seed solitary, covered by the connivent 

 segments of the calix. 



Shrubby or herbaceous, branching; leaves opposite and 

 alternate; spikes terminal; flowers sessile, mostly re= 

 fleeted. 



