362 AMARANTH FAMILY. 



rather slender purplish-tinged spikes collected in a terminal panicle. 

 'I'mp. Anicr. 



A. Gangeticus, Linn. Cult, from E. Asia in many forms, usually under 

 the name A. .mklancholicis or Lovk-lies-blkeding, or in the form 

 (u.sed for carpet bedding) with foliage marked with red, violet, or yellow, 

 as A. TRfcoLOK. Ufteii rather low, the stems and stalks red ; leaves 

 nvaU: and thin, petiolt-d, dark jiurple or partly green ; or in a form grown 

 by the American Chinese as a pot herb, the herbage is entirely green. 

 Flowers mostly glomerate, on axillary and terminal branches. 



* * Gkkex Ajiakantiis, vith the inflorescence and leaves r/reen nr nearhj so. 



+- Plant not spiwj. 



■w- 7"nll and erect. 



A. retroflexus, Linn. Pigwekd, Beetroot. A weed everywhere in 

 cultivated lands, with a slender red root ; roughish or pubescent, the 

 leaves ovate or rhomb-ovate, with more or less undulate margins, long- 

 petioled, dull- green, entire ; spikes thick and crowded into a stiff or 

 bunchy panicle ; sepals acute or obtuse. Trop. Amer. 



A. chlordstachys, Willd., also a common weed, is smoother and deeper 

 green, and has slender or tiexuose spikes which are more spreading ; sepals 

 generally sharper. Trop. Amer. 



++ ++ Decumbent or low and diffuse. 



A. albus, Linn. Tumbleweeu. Pale green and smooth, the plant 

 low and diffusely branched, in autumn often forming a ball-like mass and 

 rolling before the wind ; leaves obovate and spatulate ; flowers all in 

 small clusters in their axils and covered by rigid sharp-pointed bracts ; 

 sepals 3 ; stamens 2 or 3. Conmion in waste grounds. 



A. blitoides, Watson. Wild W. of the Mississippi and becoming a 

 Aveed along roadsides and raih'oads E. ; prostrate or decumbent, often 

 reddish, forming a mat ; spikes narrow ; bracts short-acuminate ; seed 

 larger than in the last. 



H- H- Plant with a pair of spines in the axil of each leaf. 



A. sp/nosus, Linn. Thohnv A. Waste ground, chiefly S. ; leaves 

 dull gi-een, rhomb-ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; flowers small, yellowish- 

 green, in round axillary clusters and in a long terminal spike. Trop. 

 Amer. 



3. ACNIDA, WATER HEMP. (Greek for nettle.) Three or four 

 confused species in our territory. The commonest are 



A. cannabina, Linn. Salt marshes along the coast ; a tall annual, 

 like an Amaranth ; bracts inconspicuous, and the fleshy indehiscent fruit 

 8_5.angled and crested ; leaves' lanceolate or narrower, acuminate and 

 long-stalked ; fruit indehiscent. 



A. tuberculata, Moq. In wet places, Mich., W. and S., not in salt 

 marshes ; generally tall and erect (low and decumbent forms) with lance- 

 olate, acute, or obtuse leaves, and regularly dehiscing fruit ; pistillate 

 flowers in dense clusters, in naked or leafy terminal spikes. ® 



4. TELANTHERA. (Greek: complete anthers, referring to the 10 

 bodies l^eing equal.) 



T. Bettzichiana, Eegel. (Alternanthkra PAROxvcnioiDKS of gar- 

 deners). A familiar bedding and edging plant from S. Amer. ; compact, 

 only a few inches high, with narrow spatulate or oblanceolate leaves, 

 which are blotched with orange, red, or crimson, or shaded with dull 

 purple. 



