AMARANTH FAMILY. 591 



2. ACNIDA L. Sp. 1027. 1753. 



Annual, erect or decumbent, glabrous branching herbs, similar to the dioecious Amar- 

 anths, with alternate petioled thin pinuately veined leaves. Flowers small, gren, 1-3- 

 bracted, in terminal and axillary, continuous or interrupted spikes, or clustered in the axils. 

 Staminate flowers consisting of 5 scarious erect i -nerved mucronate sepals longer than the 

 bracts, and as many stamens; filaments subulate, distinct; anthers 2-celled. Pistillate flowers 

 without a calyx; ovary ovoid or subglobose; stigmas 2-5, papillose or plumose, short or 

 elongated. Utricle fleshy and indehiscent, or membranous and bursting irregularly or cir- 

 cumscissile; seed erect, smooth and shining. [Greek, without nettle.] 



About 4 species, natives of eastern North America and the West Indies. 



Utricle fleshy, angled, indehiscent; salt-marsh plant. I ^ cannabina 



Utricle membranous, dehiscent or indehiscent, not angled; plants of fresh water swamps. 



2. A. tamariscina. 



(Fig. 1409.) 



i. Acnida cannabina L. Salt-marsh Water-hemp. 



Acnida cannabina L,. Sp. PI. 1027. 1753. 



A. rusocarpa Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 234. pi. 50. 1803. 



Succulent, stem stout or slender (sometimes i' in 

 diameter at the base), usually much branched, i- 

 10 tall, the branches ascending. Leaves lanceolate, 

 acuminate but generally blunt-pointed and apiculate 

 at the apex, 2 / -6 / long, ]'-\}4,' wide, narrowed at the 

 base, entire or slightly undulate; petiole usually 

 shorter than the blade; staminate spikes I'-s' long, 

 usually dense; sepals oblong-lanceolate or ovate-ob- 

 long, acute, acuminate or obtusish, cuspidate or mu- 

 cronate; fertile spikes dense or loose; stigmas slender, 

 papillose- hispid, }/*" long; utricle fleshy, indehis- 

 cent, 3-5-angled, subglobose or obovoid, i // -2 // long 

 when mature, becoming black, much longer than 

 the bracts. 



In salt and brackish marshes, and up the rivers to fresh 

 water, Massachusetts to Florida. July-Aug. 



Acnida Floridana S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 376, a more slender plant, of the southern At- 

 lantic coast, with narrower slender-petioled leaves, the flowers in elongated interrupted spikes, 

 and a smaller utricle, may occur in southern Virginia. 



2. Acnida tamariscina (Nutt.) Wood. 

 Western Water-hemp. ( Fig. 1410.) 



Nutt. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 



i8/3- 



Similar to the preceding species, much branched, 

 erect, the branches usually slender, erect-ascending. 

 Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2 / -6 / long, 

 mostly long-acuminate, but sometimes obtuse at the 

 apex and mucronate or cuspidate-tipped, narrowed at 

 the base, the petioles commonly shorter than the blades; 

 spikes mostly loose or interrupted, often 5' long; se- 

 pals lanceolate, subulate-acuminate; stigmas plumose, 

 rather short; utricle membranous, not angled, #"-i" 

 long, circumscissile; bractlets lanceolate, cuspidate. 



In swamps, Illinois to South Dakota, Louisiana and 

 New Mexico. July-Sept. 



Acnida tamariscina tuberculata (Moq. ) Uline & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 20: 157. 1895. 

 Acnida tuberculata Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2, 278. 1849. 

 Acnida tamariscina var. subnuda S. Wats, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 429. 1890. 



Tall, erect, sometimes 10 high, with flexuous branches; inflorescence spicate: utricle ovoid 

 tubercled, indehiscent. Vermont to Manitoba, Tennessee and Nebraska. This and the following 

 varieties perhaps constitute a distinct species. 



Acnida tamariscina concatenata (Moq.) Uline & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 20: 158. 1895. 

 Acnida cannabina var. concatenata Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2, 278. 1849. 

 Montelia tamariscina var. concatenata A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 413. 1867. 



Stem often decumbent; flowers larger, in separated glomerules. Range of preceding variety. 



38 



Amarantus tamariscinus 



(II.) 5: 165- 1833-37- 

 Acnida tamariscina Wood, Bot. & Fl. 289. 



