AMARANTH FAMILY 



2. Froelichia gracilis Moq. Slender 

 Froelichia. (Fig. 1413.) 



Froelichia gracilis Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 2 420 



1849. 



Similar to the preceding species but the stem slen- 

 der, branched, especially from the base, or sometimes 

 simple, IC/-2C/ tall. Leaves all linear or linear-oblong, 

 acute at both ends, 9 // -2 / long, sessile or the lower 

 commonly spatulate, obtusish and narrowed into very 

 short petioles; spikes alternate or opposite, oblong, 

 mostly obtuse, #'-i' long; fruiting calyx with 5 longi- 

 tudinal rows of processes or these confluent into inter- 

 rupted crests. 



In dry soil, western Nebraska and Colorado to Texas. 

 Perhaps intergrades with the preceding species. June- 

 Sept. 



5. IRESINE P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jam. 358. 1756. 

 Annual or perennial tall herbs, with opposite broad petioled thin leaves and very small 

 polygamous perfect or dioecious 3-bracted white flowers, in large terminal panicles or pan- 

 icled spikes. Calyx 5-parted, the pistillate usually woolly-pubescent. Stamens 5. rarely less; 

 filaments united by their bases, filiform; anthers i-celled. Utricle very small, sub^lobose, 

 indehiscent. [Greek, in allusion to the woolly pubescence.] 



About 20 species, natives of warm and temperate regions. Besides the following another occurs 

 in the southwestern United States. 



/?7 



i. Iresine paniculata (L. ) Kuntze. 

 Blood-leaf. Juba's Bush. (Fig. 1414.) 



Celosia paniculata L. Sp. PI. 206. 1753. 

 Iresine celosioides L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1456. 1763. 

 Iresine paniculata Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 542. 1891. 



Annual, stein erect, usually branched, slender, 

 2-5 tall, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ovate, 

 ovate-lanceolate or the upper lanceolate, 2'-6' 

 long, slender-petioled, pinnately veined, nearly or 

 quite glabrous; flowers very numerous, i" broad 

 or less, in large terminal much branched panicles; 

 calyx and bracts silvery, dry; pistillate flowers 

 white-villous at the base, about twice as long as the 

 bracts. 



In dry soil, Ohio to Kansas, south to Florida and 

 Texas. Widely distributed in tropical America. 

 Aug.-Sept. 



Family 17. PHYTOLACCACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 213. 1836. 



POKEWEED FAMILY. 



Herbs (some tropical species shrubs or trees) with alternate entire mostly ex- 

 stipulate leaves, and perfect regular polygamous or monoecious usually rac\ 

 flowers. Calyx 4~5-parted or of 4 or 5 distinct sepals, its segments or sepals 

 imbricated in the bud. Petals wanting. Stamens as many as the calyx-segments 

 or sepals and alternate with them, or more numerous, hypogynous; filaments 

 subulate or filiform, distinct or united at the base; anthers 2-celled, the sacs 

 longitudinally dehiscent, often nearly separated. Ovary superior, several-celled 

 in most of the genera; ovules solitary in the cavities, amphitropous. Styles as 

 many as the carpels, short or none; stigmas linear or filiform. Fruit a berry in 

 the following genus, capsular or samaroid in some tropical genera. Endosperm 

 of the seed mealy or fleshy. 



About 22 genera and 85 species, mostly in the tropics. 



