42 



AMARANTACE.E. 



oblong obtuse ami mucronulate or acute sepals : utricle not rugose, slightly longer 

 tlian the sepals : seed twice larger than in the last, nearly a line broad. — Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xii. 273. 



Also found in tlic interior from Mexico to Northern Nevada and Iowa, and spreading thence 

 eastward. Soniewliat lescnihling the J. Blitum, Linn., of tlie Old Worki, whicli is usually erect, 

 with shorter and more scarious bracts and a smaller seed like that of J. alius, notched at the 

 hilum. , 



-(- -i- Sepals and bracts in the fertile Jtowers solitary. 



5. A. CaliforniCUS, Watson. Prostrate or ascending, glabrous, branching at the 

 base, the stems olten a foot long or more, with numerous short branchlets : leaves 

 obovate to oblong, an inch long or less including the petiole, often small, obtuse or 

 acutish, with white veins and margin : tlowers green or reddish, in numerous small 

 dense axillary clu.sters : bract often membranous and inconspicuous, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, slightly or not at all exceeding the utricle : sepals of the staminate 

 tlowers f line Tong ; that of the fertile flower shorter and narrower, lateral : utricle 

 slightly rugose, tardily circumscissile : seed half a line broad. — MeiKjea Californica, 

 J^Ioquin in^DC. Prodr. xiii^. 270 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 290. 



From San Diego (Palmer) to Monterey {Hartwaj) ; near Carson City (Anderson, Turrey) ; and 

 northward in Idaho and Oregon. 



* * Sepals (5) of the fertile flowers more or less dilated above and spreading, 

 distinct or united at base: flowers sometimes diwcioas : perianth deciduous 

 with the fruit. — Amblogyne. {Ambloyijnc, Paf., (jray. Sarratia, jMotpiin.) 



6. A. fimbriatus, P)enth. 1. c. ISIona'cious, erect, slender, 1 to 3 feet high, si)ar- 

 ingly branched or tiinii)le, glabrous : leaves linear, an inch or two long, attenuate 

 into a slender petiole, obtuse or acute, obscurely nerved : tlowers in rather loo.se 

 clusters, scattered or approximate in a long terminal spike, which is leafy below : 

 bracts shorter than the perianth, narrow, acute : sepals of the sterile flowers obtuse, 

 oblong; those of the fertile flowers broadly fan-shajied, 1 to U lines long, with a 

 narrow thickened strongly^nerved base, slightly united, the ujiper inargin lindjriately 

 incised : seed round-ovate," less than half a line broad. — *Sa/m;/« Btrlaudieri, var. 

 jivibriata, Torrey, J5ot. Mex. Bound. 179. Amlbxjyne fmbriata, CIray, l*roc. Am. 

 Acad. v. 1G8. 



From San Diego County eastward to S. Utah and the Rio Grande, and southward to Cape St. 

 Lucas, Xantus. 



7. A. Palmeri, Watson. Dicccious, rather stout, erect, 2 or 3 feet high, branch- 

 ing, somewhat pubescent above or glabrate : leaves oblong-rhomboid, an inch or two 

 long and about e(jualling the petiole, the upper linear-lanceolate : flowers in clo.so 

 elongated linear spikes leafy at base : bracts solitary, mo.stly twice longer than the 

 flowers, spreading, subulate and rigid, narrowed into a stout awn : sepals of fertile 

 flowers 1 to 1^ lines l.mg, obl(»ng and somewhat broader above, obtuse or refuse, 

 two or three usually slightly larger and more acute or setaceously apiculate, dis- 

 tinct or nearly so : stigmas usually 2 : seed circular, half a line broail. — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. xii. 274. 



At Larkin's Station, east of San Diego, Pulmcr, 1875 (n. 323). Also on the banks of tlie \\\n 

 Grande, BerhnuUer, 1834 (n. 2407). Staminate flowers have not been detected on the Iruitiiig 

 specimens. What is probably to be considered the staminate foini has been collected on the Kio 

 Grande and in the Gila Valley by several collectors, on the Fort Yuma road, 80 miles ca!,t ol San 

 Diego {Palmer), and at Cape St. Lucas, Xantus. These accord in habit and foliage with the 

 pistTllate specimens, and have very narrowly acuminate or setaceous pungent bracts eiiualling or 

 usually exceeding the lanceolate long-acuminate sepals. 



A. ToRREYi, Renth. {Amhlofjvne Torrei/i, Gray\ is a similar sjiecies of Colorado and New 

 Mexico, and also from Cai)e St. Lucas, distinguished by the less rigid bracts scarcely as long as 

 the Uowers and the broader obovate-sjjatulate sepals, rounded above ami entire or retuse or emar- 

 ginate ; sepals of the male tlowers (which are mingled with the iiistillate ones or on distinct plants) 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute. 



