AMARANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 371 



in length), more slender, filiform; flowers somewhat variable but apparently 

 showing no constant difference from those of the typical form. (S. Tragus of 

 auth., but scarcely of L.) A weed of recent introduction, exceedingly abundant 

 and pernicious in the Northwestern States ; also locally established eastw. (Nat. 

 from Asia.) 



AMARANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 



Weedy herbs, with nearly the characters of the preceding family, but the 

 flowers mostly imbricated with dry and scarious persistent bracts ; these often 

 colored, commonly 3 in number. The greater part of the family tropical. 



* Anthers 2-celled ; leaves alternate. 



*- Ovary 1-ovuled ; filaments separate and distinct. 



1. Amaranthus. Flowers monoecious or polygamous, all with a calyx of 5 or sometimes 3 dis- 



tinct erect sepals, not falling off with the fruit. 



2. Acnida. Flowers dioecious. Calyx none in the fertile flowers. 



-i- -- Ovary 2-8-ovuled ; filaments united at base. 

 8. Celosia. Flowers perfect. Calyx 5-parted. 



* * Anthers 1-celled ; leaves opposite. 



4. Iresine. Calyx of 5 sepals. Filaments united below into a cup. Flowers paniculate. 



5. Froelichia. Calyx 5-cleft. Filaments united into a tube. Flowers spicate. 



6. Gomphrena. Calyx of 5 sepals or 5-cleft. Filaments united into an elongate tube. Flowers 



capitate. 



1. AMARANTHUS [Tourn.] L. AMARANTH 



Flowers 3-bracted. Calyx glabrous. Stamens 5, rarely 2 or 3, separate ; 

 anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit an ovoid 1-seeded utricle, 2-3-beaked 

 at the apex, mostly longer than the calyx, opening transversely or sometimes 

 bursting irregularly. Embryo coiled into a ring around the albumen. Coarse 

 annual weeds, with alternate and entire petioled setosely tipped leaves, and 

 small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked clusters ; in late 

 summer and autumn. (Afj.dpa.vTos, unfading, because the dry calyx and bracts 

 do not wither.) 



1. Utricle thin, circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid; flowers polyga- 

 mous. 



* Flowers in terminal and axillary simple or mostly panicled spikes ; stem erect 

 (0.3-2 m. high} ; leaves long-petioled ; stamens and sepals 5. 



I- Sepals spatulate. 



1. A. PALMERI Wats. Erect ; leaves ovate, long-petioled ; spikes, especially 

 the terminal, very long (1-3 dm.) ; sepals somewhat unguiculate; bracts pun- 

 gent. By railroads and about towns, Mo. and Kan.; and locally, e. Mass. 

 (Adv. from the S. W.) 



- - Sepals ovate-lanceolate to oblong. 



2. A. RETROFLEXUS L. (GREEN A., PIGWEED.) Roughish and more or less 

 pubescent ; leaves dull green, long-petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate, undulate ; 

 the thick spikes crowded in a stiff glomerate panicle ; bracts awn-pointed, rigid, 

 exceeding the acute or obtuse sepals. Cultivated grounds, common ; indigenous 

 southwestw. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



3. A. HYBRIDUS L. (GREEN A., PIGWEED.) Similar, but smoother and 

 deeper green, with more slender-cylindric more or less flexuous spikes, the 

 lateral ones spreading ; bracts rather long-awned, and sepals acute or acuminate. 

 {A. chlorostachys Willd.) Cultivated grounds, common. (Nat. from Trop. 

 Am.) Forma HYPOCHONDRIACUS (L.) Robinson. (PRINCE'S FEATHER.) 

 Leaves, bracts, and flowers purple-tinged or livid. (A. hypochondriacus L.) 

 Sometimes cultivated, and occasionally found on waste ground. It is to be 



