ILLUSTRATED FLORA. 



VOIv. II. 



Family 16. AMARANTHACEAE J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. i : 204. 1805. 



AMARANTH FAMILY. 



Herbs, some exotic genera low shrubs, with alternate or opposite simple mostly 

 entire thin leaves. Flowers small, green or white, perfect, monoecious, polyga- 

 mous, or dioecious, bracteolate, variously clustered, usually in terminal spikes or 

 axillary heads. Petals none. Calyx herbaceous or membranous, 2-5-parted, or 

 5-cleft, the segments distinct or somewhat united, equal, or the inner ones smaller. 

 Stamens 1-5, mostly opposite the calyx-segments, hypogynous ; filaments distinct, 

 united at the base, or into a tube; anthers I -celled or 2-celled. Ovary ovoid or 

 subglobose, i-celled ; ovule solitary in the following genera, amphitropous (sev- 

 eral in some tropical genera) ; style short, elongated or none; stigmas 1-3. Fruit 

 a utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent, i-seeded in our genera. 

 Seed mostly smooth; embryo annular; endosperm mealy, usually copious. 



About 40 genera and 475 species, widely distributed, most abundant in warm regions. 



Anthers 2-celled ; leaves alternate. 



Calyx 2-5-parted or of 2-5 sepals. i. Amaranthus. 



Calyx of the pistillate flowers wanting. 2. Acnida. 



Anthers i-celled ; leaves opposite. 



Flowers in small axillary clusters. 3. Cladothrix. 



Flowers variously spicate or paniculate. 



Calyx s-cleft ; filaments united into a tube. 4. Froelichia. 



Calyx 5-parted ; filaments united at the base. 5. Iresine. 



i. AMARANTHUS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 989. 1753. 



Annual branched erect or diffusely spreading glabrous or pubescent herbs, most of the 

 species weeds, with alternate, petioled pinnately veined entire, undulate or crisped leaves 

 and small monoecious polygamous or dioecious green or purplish mostly 3-bracteolate 

 flowers in dense terminal spikes or axillary clusters. Calyx of 2-5 distinct sepals. Stamens 

 2-5; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Styles or stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit an ovoid or 

 oblong utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent, 2-3-beaked by the persis- 

 tent styles. Embryo annular. [Greek, unfading flower, from the dry, unwithering bracts.] 

 About 50 species of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following some 22 others occur 

 in the southern and western United States. Type species : Amaranthus caudatus L. 

 Utricle circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid. 

 Flowers, at least the upper, in dense terminal spikes. 

 Axils not spine-bearing. 



Sepals oblong to lanceolate. 



Spikes stout, 4"-?" thick. i. A. retroftexus. 



Spikes slender, 2" -3" thick. 2. A. hybridus. 



Sepals spatulate. 3. A. Palincri. 



A pair of stout spines in each axil. 4. A. spinosns. 



Flowers all in small axillary clusters, mostly shorter than the leaves. 



Plant prostrate ; bracts oblong ; utricle smooth. 5. A. blitoides. 



Plant erect, bushy-branched ; bracts subulate ; utricle wrinkled. 6. A. graecizans. 



Utricle indehiscent, membranous, coriaceous or fleshy. 



Upper flowers in terminal, more or less elongated spikes. 



Sepals 5, clawed ; flowers dioecious ; southwestern species. 7. A. Torreyi. 



Sepals 2 or 3, oblong or spatulate; flowers monoecious or polygamous; in waste places. 

 Utricle smooth, dry, scarious. 8. A. lividns. 



Utricle fleshy, 3-s-nerved. 9. A. defte.rns. 



Flowers all in small axillary clusters shorter than the leaves. 



Plant not fleshy; stem prostrate; leaves crisped. 10. A. crispus. 



Sea-coast fleshy plant; stem short, erect; leaves not crisped. n. A.pmnihts. 



i 



