GOOSEFOOT FAMILY 253 



6. D. occidentalis (S. Wats.) Heller. Erect or spreading annual; stem 

 6-35 cm. high, with flexuose ascending or spreading branches; leaves linear 

 1-2.5 cm. long, 1 mm. wide; bracts similar only slightly shorter; flowers 1-3 in 



each axil; seeds smooth, black and shining. Alkaline meadows: Wyo. Colo. 



Ore. Wash. Son. 



FAMILY 39. AMARANTHACEAE. AMARANTH FAMILY. 



Coarse herbs, with alternate or opposite leaves, without stipules. Flowers 

 inconspicuous, perfect, moneocious, dioecious, or polygamous, subtended 

 by more or less imbricate bracts. Calyx of 2- 5 scarious or herbaceous sepals. 

 Corolla wanting. Stamens 5 or fewer, opposite the sepals. Pistil solitary, 

 1-celled; style 1, terminal, or wanting. Fruit a membranous utricle or pyxis. 



Anthers 2-celled ; green plants with alternate leaves. 



Perianth present in all flowers. 1. AMARANTHUS 



Perianth wanting in the pistillate flowers. 2. ACNIDA. 



Anthers 1-celled ; stellate or woolly plants with mostly opposite leaves. 



Filaments united into a short cup at the base; calyx neither crested nor spiny; plants 

 stellate, diffuse. 3. TIDESTROMIA. 



Filaments united into a long tube; calyx crested and tuberculate or spiny at matur- 

 ity; plants woolly, erect. 4. FROELICHIA. 



1. AMARANTHUS (Tourn.) L. AMARANTH, PIGWEED, TUMBLEWEED. 



Annual weedy herbs, with alternate, flat, pinnately veined, entire or undulate 

 leaves. Flowers monoecious, dioecious, or polygamous, in dense spikes or clus- 

 ters, each subtended by usually 3, conspicuous, green, red or purple bracts. 

 Sepals 2-5, distinct; anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary 1-celled; 

 styles or stigmas 2 or 3. Ovules solitary. Utricles circumscissile, irregularly 

 splitting, or indehiscent. Seeds lenticular, shining. Embryo annular. 



Sepals clawed; flowers in terminal and axillary spikes. 



Monoecious; sepals fimbriate; utricle circumscissile; leaf-blades linear or linear- 

 lanceolate. 1. A. fimbriatus. 

 Dioecious; sepals not flmbriate; utricle indehiscent; leaf-blades lanceolate-ovate or 



obovate. 

 Bracts lanceolate, not exceeding the flowers ; spike not very long. 



2. A. Torreyi. 

 Bracts subulate, pungent, exceeding the flowers; spikes very long. 



3. A. Palmeri. 

 Sepals not clawed 



Plants tall, simple; flowers in terminal and axillary panicles; sepals 5. 



Stamens 3; sepals 1-2 mm. long; bracts 5 mm. long or more. 4. A. Powellii. 

 Stamens 5; sepals 2-3 mm. long; bracts 3-5 mm. long. 



Spikes stout, 8-14 mm. thick, strict; pistillate sepals obtuse or truncate. 



Inflorescence tinged with red; pistillate sepals 1.5-2 mm. long; plant 



glabrous. 5. A. Wrightii. 



Inflorescence pale green; pistillate sepals 3 mm. long; plant villous. 



6. A. retroflexus. 

 Spike slender, 4-6 mm. thick, usually drooping; stem glabrous; pistillate sepals 



acute. 7. A. hybridus. 



Plant low, much branched; flowers in small axillary spike-like panicles, shorter than 



the leaves. 

 Sepals 3-5, well developed. 



Sepals 4-5; bracts lanceolate, a little longer than the sepals; plant prostrate. 



8. A. blitoides. 

 Sepals 3; bracts much longer than the sepals, pungent. 



Plant erect, glabrous. 9. A. graecizans. 



Plant prostrate or diffuse, pubescent. 10. A. puoescens. 



Sepals of the pistillate flowers, all except one, minute or wanting. 



1. A. fimbriatus (Torr.) Benth. Stem 3-10 dm. high, glabrous; leaves 

 short-petioled; blades 3-7 cm. long; flowers in a loose spike; bracts shorter than 

 the perianth, narrow, acute; sepals of the staminate flowers oblong, those of the 

 pistillate ones broadly fan-shaped, 2-3 mm. long. Sandy places: s Utah Nev. 

 Calif.; n Mex. L. Son. Au-S. 



2. A. Torreyi (A. Gray) Benth. Stem 3-10 dm. high, somewhat pubescent 

 or glabrate; leaves long-petioled; blades lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, strongly 

 veined beneath; flowers in a rather lax panicle; sepals of the staminate plant 



