588 



AMARANTHACEAE. 



Amaranthus hybridus paniculatus (L.) Uline & Bray, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 145. 1894. 

 Amaranlhiis paniculatus L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1406. 1763. 



Flowers and foliage more or less deepl}- tinged with red or purple ; leaves sometimes lanceolate 

 and bracts shorter. Range of the type, but less abundant. 



3. Amaranthus spinosus L,. Spiny 



Amaranth. (Fig. 1400.) 

 Amaranlhiis spinosus L. Sp. PI. 991. 1753. 



Rather dark green, glabrous or somewhat pu- 

 bescent above, stem stout, erect or ascending, 

 ridged, usually much branched, sometimes red, i- 

 4 high. Leaves ovate, rhombic-ovate or the upper 

 lanceolate, slender-petioled, acute at both ends, i'- 

 3' long, with a pair of rigid stipular spines %'-i f 

 long at each node, the midvein excurrent; flowers 

 in numerous capitate axillary clusters, mostly 

 shorter than the petioles and in dense terminal 

 linear-cylindric spreading or drooping spikes I'-o' 

 long; bracts lanceolate- subulate about as long as 

 the 5 scarious oblong mucronate-tipped i-nerved 

 sepals, and the thin imperfectly circumscissile 

 utricle; stamens 5. 



In waste and cultivated soil. Massachusetts to Penn- 

 sylvania. Ohio and Kansas, south to Florida and Mexico. 

 Naturalized from tropical America. A troublesome 

 weed southward. June-Sept. 



4. Amaranthus blitoides S. Wats. 

 Prostrate Amaranth. (Fig. 1401.) 



A. blitoides S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 12: 273. 1877. 

 Nearly or quite glabrous, rather pale green, 

 stem diffusely branched, prostrate and spreading 

 on the ground, ridged, 6'-2 long, often forming 

 mats. Leaves obovate or spatulate, X /-I/ l n g> 

 obtuse or acute at the apex, narrowed into slen- 

 der petioles, sometimes longer than the blades; 

 flowers in small axillary clusters mostly shorter 

 than the petioles; bracts lanceolate-subulate, lit- 

 tle longer than the 4 or 5 oblong-lanceolate acute 

 or cuspidate sepals; stamens 3; utricle nearly 

 smooth, circumscissile, equalling or slightly 

 longer than the sepals. 



In waste places, especially along the principal 

 routes of travel, Maine to southern Ontario and Min- 

 nesota, south to New Jersey, Missouri and Kansas. 

 Naturalized from west of the Rocky Mountains, 

 where it appears to be indigenous from Utah and 

 Colorado to Mexico. June-Oct. 



5. Amaranthus graecizans L. Tum- 

 ble-weed. (Fig. 1402.) 



Amaranthus graecizans L. Sp. PI. 990. 1753- 

 Amaranthus albus L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1404. 1763. 



Glabrous, pale green, stem erect, bushy- 

 branched, whitish, 6 / -2 tall, the branches slen- 

 der, ascending. Leaves oblong, spatulate or 

 obovate, % f -i%' long, slender-petioled, papil- 

 lose, the midvein excurrent; flowers polyga- 

 mous, several together in small axillary clusters 

 shorter than the leaves, commonly not longer 

 than the petioles; bracts subulate, pungent- 

 pointed, spreading, much longer than the 3 

 membranous sepals; stamens 3; utricle wrinkled, 

 circumscissile, longer than: he sepals. 



In waste and cultivated sou, throughout North 

 America. Naturalized from tropical America. 

 The leaves fall away in autumn, and on the western 

 plains the plant, thus denuded, is freely uprooteds 

 and blown before the wind, whence the popular 

 name. June-Sept. 



