Amaranthaceae 



419 



2. CELOSIA L. 



Keito Zoku 



Mostly annuals; leaves alternate, petiolate, linear to broadly ovate, entire; spikes axillary and terminal, densely many-flowered; 

 flowers rather small, white or reddish, lustrous, bisexual, sessile, with a bract and 2 bracteoles at base, the perianth-segments 5, 

 scarious, oblong to lanceolate, subobtuse, finely nerved, erect; stamens 5, connate below into a cup; ovary ovoid; style single, 

 short to elongate, the stigmas 2-3; ovules 2-8; utricles globose or ovoid, circumscissile; seeds erect, lenticular, black, shining, 

 smooth, the embryo annular. About 60 species, in the Tropics. 



lA. Sipkes long-peduncled, the flowers not fasciated; flowers 8-10 mm. long 1. C. argentea 



IB. Spikes short-peduncled or sessile, often fasciated; flowers about 4 mm. long 2. C. cristala 



1. Celosia argentea L. Noceito. Glabrous annual; 

 stems erect, 40-80 cm. long; leaves lanceolate to narrowly 

 ovate, 5-8 cm. long, 1-2.5 cm. wide, acute or gradually acumi- 

 nate, decurrent on the petiole or sessile; spikes lanceolate or 

 cylindric, 5-8 cm. long, 1-2.5 cm. wide, densely many-flowered, 

 the bracts and bracteoles broadly lanceolate, about 4 mm. long, 

 white, scarious, acuminate; perianth-segments lanceolate, 8-10 

 mm. long, acuminate, white, 1-nerved above, with few weak 

 nerves below; utricles globose, about half as long as the peri- 



anth; style about 3 mm. long, erect; seeds about 1.5 mm. 



across. July-Nov. Honshu (w. distr.), Shikoku, Kyushu; 



naturalized. A pantropic weed. 



2. Celosia cristata L. Keito. Coarse annual, the 



stems and leaves reddish; leaves rather large, ovate, ovate- 

 deltoid or lanceolate; spikes often fasciated, sessile or short- 

 peduncled, red, yellow, or white, the perianth-segments about 

 4 mm. long.- — — Aug.-Oct. Widely cultivated in gardens in 

 our area. Pantropic. 



3. ACHYRA.NTHES L. Inokozuchi Zoku 



Herbs, rarely woody at base; stems branched, thickened on nodes; leaves opposite, petiolate, ovate to lanceolate, entire; in- 

 florescence an elongate terminal spike, greenish or white, the bracts persistent, membranous, reflexed in fruit, the bracteoles 2, 

 erect, subulate, deciduous with the fruit; flowers bisexual, sessile, deflexed in fruit, the perianth-segments 4-5, subcoriaceous, 

 nearly equal, lanceolate, connivent; stamens 5, rarely 4, connate at base, the staminodes entire or fimbriate; ovary oblong; style 

 single, the stigma capitellate; ovules solitary; utricles membranous, enclosed in the persistent perianth, indehiscent; seeds 

 solitary, oblong. About 20 species, mainly tropical. 



lA. Appendage of bracteoles nearly orbicular, about 0.7 mm. long; staminodes slightly toothed or shallowly bifid; roots scarcely thickened; 



plant nearly glabrous or glabrescent \. A. japonica 



IB. Appendage of bracteoles obtusely deltoid to suborbicular, 0.3-0.5 mm. long; staminodes subrounded or nearly quadrangular, slightly 

 toothed or subentire; roots thickened. 



2A. Leaves glabrescent, thinly membranous, lanceolate to broadly so 2. A. longijolia 



2B. Leaves usually prominendy pubescent, thickly membranous, elliptic to ovate 3. A. fauriei 



1. Achyranthes japonica (Miq.) Nakai. A. bidentula 2. Achyranthes longifolia (Makino) Makino. A. biden- 



var. japonica Miq. Hikace-inokozuchi. Nearly gla- tula var. longijolia Makino Yanagi-inokozuchi. Re- 



brous to slightly pubescent perennials with scarcely thickened sembles the preceding, the roots thickened; leaves lanceolate to 



roots; stems 50-100 cm. long, obtusely quadrangular, branched, broadly so, 10-20 cm. long, 2-5 cm. wide, gradually acumi- 



the nodes thickened; leaves oblong, elliptic or obovate, 10-20 nate at both ends, nearly glabrous; bracts often with shallow 



cm. long, 4-10 cm. wide, acuminate; inflorescence elongate, teeth; style about 1.5 mm. long. -Aug.-Sept. Honshu 



usually loosely flowered in fruit, the bracts membranous, ovate- (centr. distr. and westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu. China and 



deltoid, with a green long-protruded midrib, to Vi as long as Formosa. 



the perianth; flowers horizontal in anthesis, deflexed in fruit, 3. Achyranthes fauriei Lev. & Van't. Hinata-ino- 



the bracteoles subulate, shorter than the perianth, the basal kozuchi. Resembles the preceding two species but rather 



auricles membranous, whitish, about 0.8 mm. long, nerveless, prominendy pubescent; leaves elliptic, broadly ovate or oblong, 



orbicular, the perianth 4-5 mm. long, the segments linear- 10-15 cm. long, 4-10 cm. wide, short-acuminate, usually 



lanceolate, acuminate, the inner ones slighdy shorter, the prominently pubescent; bracts ovate, with a protruding mid- 



staminodes sessile, denticulate or obsoletely 2-lobulate; utricles rib, the auricles of the bracteoles thinly membranous, about 



oblong, about 2.5 mm. long, about 1 mm. across, thinly mem- 0.5 mm. long, orbicular; perianth 5-5.5 mm. long; staminodes 



branous, 1-seeded, the style slender, erect, about 1 mm. long. quadrangular, with obsolete teeth on upper margin or entire; 



Aug.-Sept. Woods in lowlands and hills; Honshu, Shi- style about 1 mm. long. Aug.-Sept. Thickets and road- 



koku, Kyushu; common. sides in lowlands to hills; Hokkaido (?), Honshu, Shikoku, 



Var. hachijoensis Honda. Hachijo-inokozuchi. A Kyushu; common. China. 



maritime phase with thicker glabrescent lustrous leaves. 



Honshu (Hachijo Isl. and westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu. 



Ryukyus. 



4. ALTERNANTHERA Forsk. Tsuru-nogeito Zoku 



Prostrate or decumbent, rarely erect, branched, glabrous to tomentose herbs; leaves opposite, sessile or short-petiolate, obovate 

 to linear, entire or obsoletely toothed; glomerules small, sometimes congested, the flowers small, usually white, the bracts, 

 bracteoles, and perianth-segments obtuse to long-acuminate, the perianth-segments 5, sessile, dorsally compressed, unequal; 



