368 4 AMAEANTACE^E. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 



upper part falling away as a lid. Embryo coilei into a ring around the albu- 

 men. Annual weeds, of coarse aspect, with alternate and entire pejioled leaves, 

 and small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked clusters. 

 (Name compounded of a privative, fiaptuVo), to fade, and avOos, flower, because 

 the dry calyx and bracts do not wither. The Romans, like the Greeks, wrote 

 Amarantus, which the early botanists incorrectly altered to Amaranihus.) No 

 species is really indigenous in the Northern United States. 



$ 1. Flowers in terminal and axillary, simple or mostly panicled spikes : 



(l-6 high) : leaves long-petioled : stamens and sepals 5. 



* Flowers, much-branched panicles, Sfc., crimson or purple-tinged : the leaves (4' 

 10' long) mostly partaking of the same color : stem unarmed. 



1. A. HYPOGHONDRJtACus, L. (PRINCE'S FEATHER.') Smooth or smooth- 

 ish ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute or pointed ; spikes very obtuse, thick, crowd- 

 ed, the terminal one elongated ; bracts long-aimed ; fruit 2 - 3-deft at the apex, 

 longer than the calyx. Rarely spontaneous around gardens. (Virginia, ex L. ; 

 but doubtless adv. from Trop. Amer.) 



2. A. PANICULATUS, L. (FRINGE'S FEATHER. RED AMARANTH, &C.) 



Stem mostly pubescent ; leaves oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; spikes acutish, 

 erect or spreading, rather dense, the terminal one not much larger ; bracts awn- 

 pointed ; fruit 2 - 3-toothed at the apex, longer than the calyx. Flowers green, 

 tinged with red, or sometimes deep red or purple. (A. sanguineus, L.) In 

 gardens, &c. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.) 



# * Flowers, fyc. green : stem unarmed. 



3. A. HYBRIDUS, L. (GREEN AMARANTH. FIGWEED.) Leaves ovate- 

 oblong or ovate, acute, smooth, bright green, spikes erect, obtuse, in loosely 

 branched panicles, the. terminal one longer; bracts awned, sometimes tinged 

 reddish ; fruit 2 - 3-cleft at the apex, nearly smooth, not exceeding the calyx. Waste 

 places and gardens ; common. (Virginia, L. ; but nat. from Trop. Amer.) 



4. A CHLOROSTACHYS, Willd. Leaves bright deep green, long-petioled, ovate 

 or rhombic-ovate ; spikes ascending, acute, crowded in an open panicle, the ter- 

 minal one long and often nodding ; bracts awn-pointed, rather longer than the calyx, 

 which is shorter than the 2-3-toothcd rugose fruit. Around dwellings, southward. 

 Perhaps (with the preceding) no more than a variety of the next. (Adv. from 

 Trop. Amer.) 



5. A. RETROFLEXUS, L. (FIGWEED.) Roughish and pubescent; leaves 

 pale or dull green, or rather glaucous, long-petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate, un- 

 dulate ; spikes crowded in a stiff panicle, acutish, more or less spreading, green, 

 the terminal one shortish and erect ; bracts pointed, twice the length of the calyx, 

 which is longer than the rugose fruit. Around dwellings, in manured soils. 

 (Adv. from Trop. Amer.) 



# * * Flowers, fyc. greenish : stem armed with 2 spines in the axils of the leaves. 



6. A. SPIN6SU8, L. (THORNY AMARANTH.) Smooth, bushy-branched; 

 stem reddish; leaves rhombic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, dull green; terminal 

 spike elongated ; calyx about equalling the bracts and the fruit. Waste places 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and southward. (Adv. from Trop. Amer ?) 



