374 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : BOTANY. 



4. AMARANTUS VULGATISSIMUS Speg. 



Stem procumbent, pale green, striatulous, glabrous. Leaves long-peti- 

 olate, ovate or lanceolate, obtuse or very obtuse, mucronulate, rigidly 

 membranaceous, greenish to subcinerascent. Glomerules axillary, shorter 

 than or equalling the petiole, the apical crowded in a simple or scarcely 

 compound raceme, which is more or less elongate, erect and thick. Flow- 

 ers small ; sepals 5 ; spathulate, very obtuse, but mucronulate. Utricle 

 sublenticular, smooth, enclosed in, or scarcely exceeding the perianth. 



N. Patagon., not rare in cultivated places near Carmen de Patagones. 



2. AMARANTELLUS Speg. (Plantae novae nonnullse Amer. Austral., 



p. 343, 1901.) 



Flowers monoecious, i-bracted and 2-bracteolate. Perianth none. 

 Stamens 2, oppositibracteolate ; anthers short-ovate, 2-celled. Ovary 

 ovoid, compressed ; style very short, stigmas 3, subulate, papillose all 

 over; ovule i, subsessile, erect. Utricle twice as long as the bracts and 

 bracteoles, ovoid, compressed, membranaceous, vesiculose, faintly 3- 

 nerved, irregularly dehiscing, scarcely mucronulate. Seed vertical, erect, 

 lenticular, with crustaceous testa, and no aril. Embryo annular, sur- 

 rounding mealy endosperm ; cotyledons linear, radicle inferior. 



Decumbent annual herb, glabrous or scarcely pubescent. Leaves 

 alternate ; limb ovate, entire, acutish or apically retuse, basi-cuneate, 

 long-petiolate. Flowers small, in axillary sympodial glomerules and a 

 terminal raceme, green. Bracts and bracteoles membranaceous, persistent. 



Habit of JSuxolus, but the absence of perianth, and there being only 2 

 stamens distinguish it. 



Species i, common over all Argentina, and in N. Patagon. 



A. ARGENTINUS Speg. 



Stems glabrate or puberulous, rubicund or green, obsoletely striate, 

 15-50 cm. Leaves green, pallid underneath, with prominent whitish 

 pinnate nerves, petioles as long as the limb. Glomerules axillary, small, 

 mostly geminate, and an apical thick raceme ; bracts elliptic, and brac- 

 teoles twice as long, oblanceolate, mucronulate, glabrous. Utricles pallid 

 green, smooth. 



(La Plata); N. Patagon., common by roadsides near Carmen. 



