AMARANTH FAMILY. 361 



• Leaves alternate, mostly long-petioled ; anthers i-cetted. 

 *■ Flowers perfect ; ovules and seeds numerous. 



1. OELOSIA. Nearly as Amarantus, but the crowded spikes imbricated with shining 



colored bracts. In cultivation the spikes are often changed into broad crests. 

 +- +- Flowers diacious, moncecious, or polygamous ; ovule solitary. 



2. AMARANTUS. Flowers moncecious or polygamous. Calyx of 5, or sometimes 8, equal 



erect sepals, glabrous. Stamens 5, sometimes 2 or 8. Stigmas 2 or 8. Ovule on a 

 stalk from the base of the ovary. Fruit an utricle, 2-8-pointed at apex, usually open- 

 ing all round transversely, the upper part falling oft as a lid (Lessons, Fig. 887), dis- 

 charging the seed. Flowers in axillary or terminal spiked clusters. Bracts 8 at each 

 flower. 

 8. ACNIDA. Flowers dicecious, the pistillate ones without a calyx. Sterile flowers with 

 S stamens and 5 sepals. Stigmas 2-5, often plumose. Bracts 1-3. 

 * * Leaves opposite ; anthers 1-celled. 

 +- Flowers capitate, the heads either axillary or terminal. 



4. TELANTHER A . Flowers perfect, in small dense heads (axillary in ours). Calyx 5- 



parted, the divisions unequal. Anther-bearing stamens 5, alternating with 5 sterile 

 filaments of the same length and which are laciniate at the top, all united into a short 

 tube. Stigma capitate. 



5. GOMPHEENA. 'Flowers perfect, chiefly in terminal round heads, crowded with the 



firm colored bracts. Calyx 5-parted or of S sepalB, the parts nearly equal. Stamens 

 5, monadelphous below, the filament tube elongated. Stigmas 2 or 8, subulate or 

 filiform. (Lessons, Fig. 299.) 



+- -i- Flowers spicule, or paniculate. 



6. FRCELICHIA. Flowers perfect, 3-bracted, in spikes. Calyx tubular, 5-cleft at the 



summit, inclosing the fruit. Filaments united into a tube, bearing 5 anthers and as 

 many sterile appendages. 



7. IRESINE. Flowers generally dicecious or polygamous, 8-bracted, in panicles. Sepals 5. 



Stamens generally 5, with the filaments united in a cup below. 



1. CELOSIA, COCKSCOMB. (Greek: dried or burnt, alluding to 

 the scarious bracts.) Flowers summer. (J) 



C. cr/stata, Linn. Common C. Of the gardens, from the Tropics, in 

 various usually monstrous forms, the showy flower crests crimson-red, 

 sometimes rose-colored, yellow, or white. 



2. AMARANTUS, AMARANTH. (From Greek for unfading.) 

 Coarse weeds of cult, and waste grounds, and one or two cultivated 

 for ornament. Flowers late summer. Bracts commonly awn- 

 pointed, (g 



* Bed Amaranths, the flower clusters or the leaves tinged with red or 

 purple {except sometimes in the last). 



*- Spikes drooping. 



A. caudatus, Linn. Prince's Feather. Cult, from India; tall, 

 stout ; leaves ovate, bright green ; spikes red, naked, long and slender, 

 in a drooping panicle, the terminal one forming a very long tail. 



+- ■*- Spikes erect. 



A. hypochondriacus, Linn. Cult, from Trop. Amer.; stout; leaves 

 oblong, often reddish-tinged ; flower clusters deep crimson-purple, short 

 and thick, the upper making an interrupted blunt spike. 



A. paniculdtus, Linn. Coarse weed in gardens ; the oblong-ovate or 

 lance-oblong leaves often blotched or veined with purple ; flowers in 



