382 AMARANTACE^. (AMARANTH FAMILY.) 



short I Btigmas 2-3, slender. Utricle roundish, 1 -seeded, indehiscent, included 

 in the calyx. Seed vertical, lenticular. Eadicle ascending. — Chiefly herbs, 

 with opposite petioled leaves, and scarious glossy flowers, disposed in single or 

 panicled spikes or heads. 



§ ]. PHiLOXERtrs. Flowers perfect, crowded in axillary and terminal heads. 



1. I. vermicularis, Moquin. Smooth; stem much branched, prostrate 

 or creeping ; leaves club-shaped, fleshy, serai-terete ; heads mostly sessile, ovate 

 or globose, at length oblong or cylindrical, obtuse ; flowers white; sepals obtuse, 

 longer than bracts, the two exterior ones woolly at the base. — Sandy sea-shores. 

 South Florida. — Stems 1 ° - 2° long. Leaves ^' - 1 ' long. Heads 3" - 8" long, 

 mostly terminal and solitary. 



§ 2. Iresin ASTRtTM. Flowers dioecious, disposed in loosely-panicled spikes. 



2. I. diffusa, H. & B. Stem erect, somewhat 5-angled, smooth ; leaves 

 petioled, ovate, acuminate, slightly denticulate-ciliate on the margin, smooth ; 

 panicle narrowly pyramidal, much branched ; spikelets ovate, obtuse, straw-color ; 

 sepals 3-nerved, smooth, acute, twice as long as the ovate bracts ; rachis slightly 

 pubescent. (I. celosioides, Ell. ?) In Florida, Michaux. Saline marshes. South 

 Carolina, Elliott. — Stem 2°-3° high. Leaves lJ'-2'long, the upper ones 

 lanceolate. Branches of the panicle alternate. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA, Mart. 



Flowers perfect or dioecious, 3-bracted. Sepals 5, smooth or villous. Sta- 

 mens 5, united into a short cup at the base. Sterile filaments minute, tooth-like: 

 anthers 1 -celled. Style short: stigma capitate or 2-lobed. Utricle indehiscent, 

 1-seeded. Seed vertical, lenticular. Eadicle ascending. — Herbs. Leaves op- 

 posite. 



* Flowers dioecious : heads or spikes loosely panicled : stigma 2-lobed. 



1. A. flavescens, Moquin. Stem erect, smooth, furrowed, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at each end, rongh- 

 ish with short scattered hairs, short-petioled ; panicle oblong, the branches alter- 

 nate, nearly leafless ; spikes oblong, lengthening, straw-color ; sepals of the 

 staminate flowers oblong, acute, nerveless, smooth, twice as long as the ovate 

 persistent bracts ; those of the pistillate flowers ovate, 3-nerved nearly to the 

 apex ; the pedicels clothed with long white wool. — Margins of fields, Middle 

 Florida. July -Sept. ® — Stem 2° -3° high. Leaves 2' - 4' long, the upper- 

 most alternate and lanceolate. Panicle 8' - 1 2' long. Sterile filaments tooth- 

 like, minute. 



* * Flowers perfect : heads mostly axillary, solitary or clustered : stigma capitate ; 

 stems prostrate. 



2. A. Achyrantha, R. Br. Stems forking, pubescent ; leaves smoothish, 

 oval or obovate, narrowed into a petiole ; heads dense, oval, white ; sepals lance- 

 olate, spine-pointed, woolly with barbed hairs on the back, the two inner ones 

 much smaller; sterile filaments subulate from a dilated and obscurely denticulate 



