1 28 AMAEANTHACEAE. 



ovoid, indehiscent. Seed lenticular; embryo annular; endosperm starchy. 

 [Greek, dry-loving, some species inhabiting dry situations.] About 10 species 

 of coastal distribution in tropical and subtropical America, Africa and Austral- 

 asia. Type species: Philoxerus conicus E. Br. 



1. Philoxerus vermicularis (L.) Nutt. Gen. 2: 78. 1818. 



Gomphrena vermicularis L. Sp. PI. 224. 1753. 



Lithophila vermiculata Uline, Field Mus. Bot. 2 : 39. 1900. 



Fleshy, the stems prostrate, branched, 1-8 dm. long, the branches prostrate 

 or ascending, sometimes 1.5 dm. high. Leaves thick, or subterete, linear, 

 linear-oblong or clavate, 1-5 cm. long, acutish or blunt at the apex, narrowed 

 to the sessile base; heads subglobose to cylindric, densely many -flowered, bright 

 white, 1-2.5 cm. long, 6-10 mm. thick; sepals about 3 mm. long, obtuse, a little 

 longer than the bracts. 



Margins of salt water ponds and on maritime rocks. Abaco and Great Ba- 

 hama to Watling's Island and the Anguilla Isles : Florida ; West Indies ; northern 

 South America. SAMPIRE. SALT-WEED. 



7. IBESINE P. Br. Hist. Jam. 358. 1756. 



Tall herbs, with opposite broad petioled leaves and small 3-bracted white 

 flowers, in large terminal panicles or panicled spikes. Calyx 5-parted, the 

 pistillate usually woolly. Stamens 5, rarely fewer; filaments united by their 

 bases, filiform; anthers 2-celled. Utricle very small, subglobose, indehiscent. 

 [Greek, in allusion to the woolly pubescence.] About 40 species, natives of 

 warm and temperate regions. Type species: Celosia paniculata L. 



Leaves large, broadly ovate-lanceolate, acute. 1. 1. Celosia. 



Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, petiolate, obtuse. 2. I. flavescens. 



Leaves linear, sessile or very nearly so. 3. I. inaguensis. 



1. Iresine Celosia L. Syst. ed. 10, 1291. 1759. 



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



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



Iresine paniculata Kuntze, Eev. Gen. PI. 2: 542. 1891. Not Poir. 1813. 



Annual or perennial; stem erect, ascending or clambering, 0.6-3 m. long, 

 glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate or the upper lanceolate, 

 0.5-1.5 dm. long, acute or acuminate, the slender petioles 1-6 cm. long; flowers 

 very numerous, 2 mm. broad or less, calyx and bracts silvery ; sepals 1-1.5 mm. 

 long; pistillate flowers white-villous at the base, about twice as long as the 

 bracts; utricle shorter than the sepals; seed red, shining, 0.5 mm in diameter. 



Coastal sands and on waste and cultivated lands, Abaco and Great Bahama : 

 southeastern United States ; Jamaica ; Cuba to Porto Rico ; Antiqua to Trinidad ; 

 Mexico to Brazil and Argentina. NEW-BURN WEED. 



2. Iresine flavescens H. & B.; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 766. 1806. 



Alternanthera flavescens Moq. in DC. Prodr. 132: 350. 1849. 

 Iresine Tceyensis Millsp. Field Mus. Bot. 2: 148. 1906. 



Perennial by a woody root; stems erect, rather stout, 1 m. high or less, 

 glabrous, simple or much branched, the nodes often swollen. Leaves linear- 

 oblong to lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-10 cm. long, 0.4-2.5 cm. wide, mostly 

 obtuse or rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base, glabrous, the petioles 

 1 cm. long or less; panicles narrow, dense, 1-3 dm. long, glabrous; spikes 0.3-4 



