40 rOLYGUXACE.E. Jteruslcjia. 



diffusely dicliotomous from tlie base : leaves ojtpusite, llie lower •J-loljed : bracts 

 opposite, small, fuliaceous : involucres uearly sessile iu the forks and terminal : 

 llowers very small, yellowish. Only the following species. 



1. P. drymarioides, Fisch. & Mey. Sparingly hirsute, decumbent, the stems 

 often a foot or Iwo long : lower leaves ])etioled, 2 to lines broad, I'an-shaped, the 

 lobes crenately toothed or again lobed ; upper leaves obovate to sjiatulate, entire or 

 toothed : bracts similar, about a line long : involucres very small, becoming 1 to U 

 lines long in fruit, somewhat 2-lobetl, the margin toothed or laciniate ; tlie dorsal 

 sacs or crests more or less developed. — Ind. 8em. llort. I'etrop. ii. 23 ; lienth. iu 

 DC. I'roilr. xiv. 27 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 200. 



Hillsides ami dry places, from the Columbia River to Lower California, and from tlie eoast to 

 the foothills of ihe Sierra Nevada ; S. Utah (I'amj) ; (Juadalupe Island, I'almcr. 



P. MACItoi'TKKA, lienth. Hot. Siili)li. 41, is deseril)e<l as a larger and stouter plant, with spatu- 

 late somewhat llesliy entire leaves, and the fruiting involucre half an inch broad with a sinuate 

 margin. — ilagdalena Bay, Lower California. 



Order LXXVIII. AMARANTACEiE. 



Herbs (as to our species), with entire leaves destitute of stij>ules, small flowtirs 

 ■which are usually subten<led by scarious bracts and have a persistent perianth of 

 1 to 5 more or less scarious sepals (wanting in Aanda), mostly hypogynous stamens 

 as many as the sepals and opposite them or fewer, a 1 -celled ovary containing (in 

 our species) a single amphitropous ovule on a slender basal funiculus, utricidar in 

 fruit, and lenticular seed with crustaceous (black or brown) testa and embryo 

 curved around copious mealy albumen, its radicle inferior and cotyledons incumbent. 

 Flowers perfect or unisexual, solitary or clustered, commonly 3-bracteate, viz. with 

 a bract and a pair of lateral bractlets ; the latter usually more scarious, concave and 

 often carinate. Sepals imbricate in the buil, unchanged in fruit. Stamens either 

 distinct or monadelphous at base, with or without alternating teeth or scales (stami- 

 nodia). Stigmas 2 or 3, sessile or on an undivided style. Utricle either indehis- 

 cent or irregularly bursting or circumscissile. Seed always vertical. 



An order of unimportant weedy plants, mostly tropical or subtropical, a few cultivated on 

 account of their oinauiental bracts or foliage. There are about 40 genera and 400 sj-ecies. 

 Readily distinguished from the Chcnojwduicccc by habit, and by the scarious biacts and sepals. 



* Anthers 2-celled. 



1. Amarantus. Annuals, with alternate thin strongly veined leaves. Flowers niona-cious or 



di.vcious, in close axillary or spicate clusters. Sepals 5 or fewer. Utricle circumscissile. 



2. Nitrophila. Rerenuial, with oi)posite tleshy leaves ; glabrous. Flowers perfect, axillary. 



Sepals 5 to 7, connivent. Utricle indehiscent. 



» ♦ Anthers 1 -celled : leaves opposite : tomentose. 



3. Cladothrix. Flowers perfect, axillary. Utricle indehiscent. 



1. AMARANTUS, Tourn. Amar.\nth. 



Flowei;^ usually moncecious or polygamous, sometimes dioecious, 1-3- (mostly 3-) 



bracted. Perianth of 3 or 5 sepals (rarely fewer in the fertile flowers), distinct or 



united at base, scarious or scariously margined, erect or the summits spreading and 



more or less dilated, glabrous. Stamens as many, distinct, with subulate or lili 



