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Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 9 
4. AMARANTUS, Linn. 
Annual herbs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, usually entire. 
Flowers small, moncecious or polygamous, in cymules of three or 
more, arranged in axillary clusters or dense terminal and axillary 
spikes or panicles; bract 1, bracteoles 2. Perianth of 3 or 5 mem- 
branous equal or subequal segments; in 3 ovate-lanceolate, in 2 
oblong or spathulate. Stamens 5 or less, free ; anthers 2-celled ; 
staminodes 0. Ovary compressed, ovoid, 1-celled ; style short or 0; 
stigmas 2—3, filiform or subulate ; ovule 1, erect. Fruit an orbicular 
or ovoid compressed utricle, indehiscent or circumsciss. Seed erect, 
orbicular, compressed ; testa crustaceous; embryo annular, enclos- 
ing floury albumen; cotyledons linear; radicle inferior. DIsTRIB. 
_ Several species, of which some cultivated ; tropical or subtropical. 
Perianth-lobes and stamens 5 each; utricle circumsciss : 
Leaf axils spinous .. oC Ae .. I. A. spimosus., 
Leaf axils not spinous Sc 56 -. 2 A. caudatus. 
Perianth-lokes and stamens 3 each; no spines: 
Utricle circumsciss; perianth-lobes, bracts aad’ brac- 
teoles long-awned 7 3. A gangeticus. 
Utricle indehiscent; DeHanth lobes, ere and Be 
teoles shortly-awned ave ee .. 4. A. viridts. 
1. AMaRANTUS spINosusS, Linn. Sp. Pl. 991 (1753). An erect 
glabrous herb. 30-60 cm. high; stems hard, often reddish, with 
many grooved branches and usually sharp divaricate spines usually in 
pairs at the leaf axils, 15 mm. long or less. Leaves membranous ; 
ovate or oblong, obtuse and sharply mucronate at apex, cuneate at 
base, glabrous above, sometimes scurfy beneath ; 3-8 cm. long, 1-4 
em. broad; main nerves numerous, about 10 pairs, slender, prom- 
inent beneath; petiole slender, 1-6 cm. long. Flowers very nu- 
merous, in cymules of 3 or more in dense axillary clusters and in ter- 
minal and axillary dense or interrupted spikes, the upper flower in 
the spikes usually ¢, the lower 2 or the ¢ and 2 mixed; bracts and 
bracteoles linear-lanceolate, sharply mucronate. Perianth-lobes 5: 
in @ ovate-lanceolate, 1-ribbed, scarious, mucronate, 2—3 mm. 
long ; in 2 shorter, obovate or spathulate. Siamens5; anthers oblong ; 
filaments flattened. Ovary ovoid; stigmas 2—3, subulate. Ulricle 
circumsciss about the middle, membranous, rugose. Seed about 1 
mm. in diam.; testa black, shining. Mog. in DC. Prodr. XIII. 2 
260 ; Willd. Hist. Amarant. 38. t. 4. fig. 8; Roxb. Fl. Ind. III. 611; 
Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 216; Wight Ic. t. 513; wer Cat. 6894 ; 
Bl. Bijdr. 540; Migq. Fl. Ind. Bat. L.1. 1051; Hook. HE Bes ind. 
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