PHYTOLACCA AMARANTHACE^ 589 



AMABANTHU -^ 



inserted at the base of the calyx. Ovary globose, of 5-16 distinct 

 or somewhat united carpels. Fruit a depressed-globose berry. 

 Seeds erect, compressed. Embryo annular, in mealy albumen. 



P. decandra L. Sp, ed. 2, 631. (Poke- berry) Glabrous and succulent: 

 stems 4-12 feet high, stout, erect, branched: leaves oblong-lanceolate or 

 ovate-lanceolate, pinnately veined, acute or acuminate at both ends, 8-12 

 inches long, petioled : racemes peduncled.2-8 inches long: pedicels diverg- 

 ent, 2-6 lines long, each with a subulate-lanceolate branchlet at its bise, 

 and usually 2 linear ones above: flowers perfect : calyx white, 2-3 lines 

 broad, its sepals suborbicular or oval : stamens 10, slightly shorter than 

 the sepals : berry dark purple, 5-6 lines in diameter, 10-celled. In waste 

 places in southern Oregon : introduced from the Eastern States. 



Ordjsr LXXVII .AMARANTHACEiE J. St. Hil. Expos. 

 Earn. 204. (1805,) 



Herbs or low shrubs with simple leaves without stipules and 

 small monoecious, polygamous or dioecious flowers usually in 

 terminal spikes or axillary heads, calyx herbaceous or mem- f 

 branaceous, 2-5-parted, the segments distinct or united at base. 

 Stamens 1-5. mostly opposite the segments of the calyx, hypo- 

 gynous. Ovary 1-celled, usually with a solitary amphitropous 

 ovule. Style short, elongated or none: stigmas 1-3. Fruit an 

 utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent. 

 1 AMAEANTHUS L. Sp, 989. (Pig Weed.) 



Annual herbs with alternate petioled entire leaves and small 

 green or purplish mostly 3-bracteolate flowers in dense terminal 

 spikes or axillary clusters. Calyx of 2-5 distinct sepals. Sta- 

 mens 2-5 : anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Styles or 

 stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit a utricle beaked by the persistent style. 

 * Sepals 5, bracts 3. 



A. HYBRiDcs L. Sp. 990. Pubescent to nearly glabrous, green to pur- 

 ple : stem rather slender, 2 inches to 8 feet high, usually branched : leaves 

 bright green on both sides or paler beneath, ovate or rhombic-ovate, 1-6 

 inches long, on slender petioles: flowers very numerous, in dense linear- 

 cylindric ascending or spreading spikes, forming dense terminal panicles : 

 bracts subulate, 2-3 lines long : sepals o, oblong, acute or cuspidate, about 

 half as long an the bracts : stamens 5 : utricle smooth, circumscissile. 

 Common in fields and waste places : naturalized from Tropical America. 



* * Sepals 3 : bracts 3. 



A. blitoldes Watson Proc. Am. Acad, jcii, 273. Nearly or quite glab- 

 aous, pale green : stem much branched from the base, the branches prostr- 

 ] te and spreading, rigid, 6-20 inches long: leaves obovate to spatulate 3-12 

 ines long, obtuse to acute at the apex, narrowed into slender petioles : 

 flowers in small axillary clusters mostly shorter than the petioles : bracts 

 subulate-lanceolate, little longer than the 4 or 5 oblong-lanceolate acute 

 or cuspidate sepals : stamens 3 : utricle nearly smooth. In waste places 

 and roadsides Idaho to the Atlantic States. 



A. GRiECizANS L. Sp. 990. A. albus L. Glabrous : stem erect, 6-24 

 inches high whitish diffusely and widely branched : leaves oblong, spatul- 

 ate or obovate, 6-18, lines long, pale green, long-petioled: flowers poly- 

 gamous, in small axillary clusters shorter than the leaves : bracts subu- 



