192 A FLORA OP MANILA 



*2. A. VERSICOLOR Kegel, j Cucharitas (Sp.-Fil.)- 



A slender, erect or ascending:, much-branched, nearlyi glabrous herb, 

 the stems reddish, often prostrate below, 20 to 60 cm long. Leaves oblong- 

 obovate to spatulate, acute or ol&tuse, long-petioled, the blades 1 to 6 cm 

 long, green and red or purplish. Heads axillary, sessile, solitary, ovoid 

 to subglobose, 5 to 7 mm long, somewhat hairy. 



Commonly cultivated, fl. all the year; now found in cultivation in most 

 large towns in the Philippines. Probably a native of Brazil. 



3. A. PRUTESCENS (L'Her.) R. Br. 



A wide-spreading, branched, prostrate, perennial herb, the stems rooting 

 at the lower nodes, the branches up to 60 cm in length, the flowering ones 

 ascending, the younger ones clothed . with long, appressed, weak, white ■ 

 hairs. Leaves opposite, or the upper ones somewhat whorled, oblong to 

 oblong-oblanceolate or spatulate, petioled, 1 to 2.5 cm long, acute or c^tuse, 

 entire, base gradually narrowed. Heads axillary, solitary or clustered, 

 white, globose to ovoid, 5 to 10 mm long. Anthers 5. Sepals lanceolate, 

 acuminate, about 5 mm long. Utricle compressed, obovoid, about 2 mm 

 long. 



In open waste places, fl. all the year, common about Manila. A 

 native of tropical America, now thoroughly naturalized here, but not re- 

 ported from any other part of the Orient. 



5. AMARANTHUS Linnaeus 



Erect, branched, annual herbs with alternate leaves. Flowers small, 

 unisexual, in dense axillary clusters or in erect or drooping, densely or 

 laxly panicled, spike-like clusters. Sepals 5, or 1 to 3, ovate to linear, 

 often aristate. Stamens 1 to 5, free; staminodes none. Ovary com- 

 pressed; style short or none; ovule 1. Fruit a compressed, indehiscent or 

 circumsciss utricle. Seed orbicular. (Greek ''unfading.") 



Species many in all warm and tropical countries, 5 or 6 in the Philip- 

 pines. 



1. Spiny in the leaf^axils 1. A. spinoms 



1. Spineless. 



2. Sepals and stamens 5; bracts setaceous or awrled 2. A. caudatus 



2. Sepals and stamens 2 or 3; bracts subulate. 

 3. Plant dull-purple or reddish, 4 to 1.5 m high; leaves acuminate. 



3. A, gangeticus 

 3. Plant green, 0.3 to 0.6 m high ; leaves obtuse, often notched. 



4. A. viridia 

 1. A. sPiNosus L. 



A stout, erect, glabrous, branched annual 0.4 to 1 m high, armed with 

 slender, axillary spines. Leaves long-petioled, oblong to oblong-ovate o.r 

 ellipticJanceolate, obtuse, 4 to 10 cm long. Flowers about 1 mm long, in 

 axillary clusters and in elongated terminal and axillary, usually densely 

 flowered spikes, green or greenish-white, the setaceous bracts as long as 

 or exceeding the five sepals. 



In waste places, gardens etc., fl. all the year; throughout the Philippinea, 

 but certainly introduced. Most tropical countries. 



