Amarantus. AMARANTACE^. 



41 



form tilaiuents and 2-celled antliers ; staminodia none. Stigmas 2 or 3, linear and 



sessile. Utricle 1-seeded, ovate, 2 - 3-beaked, circumscissilc (or indehisoent in 



§ Eiixolus), often deciduous with the perianth. — Annual weeds, with alternate 



leaves decurrent upon the slender petiole and apiculate with a short setaceous 



mucro ; flowers green or purplish, in axillary or spiked clusters or spikelets. 8tam- 



inate flowers usually mingled with the more numerous pistillate ones. — Anihlo- 



gyne & Euxolus, Raf. Sarratia, IMoquin. Mengea, Schauer. Sderopus, Schrail. 



A gpnus of wide range, some of the species very widely diffused as weeds about cultivated 

 grounds. Among tlie Indians of Arizona several are cultivated for their almndant seeds. Tlie 

 specific differences are often obscure and badly defined, so that tlie number of actual species is very 

 uncertain The views of Bentbam (Fl. Australiensis, v. 212) are adojited respecting Amblmjijiic, 

 and there seems also to be no suflicient reason for retaining Mengea as a distinct genus. 



* Sepals distinct, oblong-lanceolate, erect : flowers nionoecioiis. 



•^ Flowers in naked terminal and axillary mostly x><^nicled spikes : sepals 5 : 

 stems usually stout and erect, with large long-petioled leaves. — Euamaua.vtl's. 



1. A. retroflexus, Linn. Dull green, 1 to 6 feet high, roughish and more or 

 less pubescent, simi)le or branched : leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate, acute or acumi- 

 nate, 1 to 3 (or often 4 to 6) inches long, not including the somewhat shorter peti(jk' : 

 flowers green, in thick erect or scarcely spreading crowded axillary and terminal 

 spikes : bracts lanceolate, attenuate to a rigid awn, 1|- to 3 lines long: sepals 1 to 

 1| lines long, narrowly oblong, acute or obtuse, or mucronate, at length deciduuus 

 Avith the base of the circumscissile utricle : seed l^ line broad. — Moquin, DC. I'roilr. 

 xiii^. 258. 



From Mexico to British America, only as an introduced weed northward ; cultivated by the 

 Arizona Indians. It is also common through most of Europe, but probably not native. Dis- 

 tinguished l)y the thick erect spikes. 



2. A. chlorostachys, Willd. Spikes more slender than in the la.st, lincar- 

 cylindric, more or less flexuoiis, the lateral ones spreading or divaricate : whohj 

 plant usually deeper green : the leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate, obtuse or acutish : 

 sepals more frequently acute or acuminate. — ^loquin, 1. c. 259. A. retrojhxm, 

 var. chlorostachys, Gray, Manual, 412. 



Of like range and widely naturalized, but not yet certainly found in California. A. pnnieiiln- 

 tiis, Linn., may also occur in gardens, with uumei-ous slender jianicled sjjikes, tlie fiowers ami 

 often the leaves tinged with purple. 



■i- -f- Flowers in very small axillary spikes or clusters : sejmls 1 to 3 : stems loir 

 or prostrate, with smaller leaves. — Pyxidium, Moquin. 



++ Se2j((ls fliree. 



3. A. albus, Linn. Erect or ascending, |- to 2 feet high, diifusely branched 

 from the base, glabrous or nearly so : stem light-colored : leaves pale green, oblong- 

 spatulate to obovate, | to 1| inches long including the slender petiole, obtuse or 

 retuse, often undulate : rhachis of the 4 - 5-flowered spikelets often somewhat elon- 

 gated (^ to 3 lines long) : bracts subulate, rigid, pnngently awned, 1 to 2h lines 

 long, the lateral ones very much smaller or wanting : sepals 3, oblong-laiu-cdl.ite, 

 acuminate, shorter than the slightly rugose utricle : seed small, a thinl of a line 

 broad. — • Moquin, 1. c. 264 ; Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 274. 



Near Monterey {Hnrhccg ; referred to A. BlUvtn, var. qrcccizans, by Moquin, 1. c. 26.'?), Sun 

 Diego (Palmer), and common through tlie interior, where it is doubtless indigenous, and in tlie 

 Atlantic States ; also naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region. 



4. A. blitoides, Watson. Much resembling the last, but prostmte or decuml>.-nt, 

 the slender stems | to 2 feet long : spikelets usually contracted : bracts oyatt-<d»- 

 long, shortly acuminate, nearly equal, 1 to 1^ lines long, but little exceeding the 



