AMARANTACEjE. ' 63 



Hab. Jamaica!, March, Wils.; S. Vincent!, Chtild.; Trinidad!, Or.; [Nubia!, Niger J; 

 East Indies !; Mexico !, Ecuador I j Canary Islands !, Algeria !, Spain !, Sicily !; Cape of Good 

 Hope!]. 



4. CYATHULA, Lour. 



Flowers clustered, central fertile, encircled by (3-) 4 or more abortive ones, wMcli are 

 partly reduced to glochides. Fertile jlower like(that of Achyranthes. — Leaves opposite; 

 flower-clusters arranged usitally in elongated sjakes. 



5. C. prostrata, Bl. Perennial, sufirutescent, downy or glabrescent; leaves ovate, 

 pointed; spikes axillary and terminal, often temate ; flower-clusters at length recurved ; sepals 

 hairy, trinerved, twice as long as the bracts ; glochides 3-20, at length exceeding the flower, 

 yellowish. — Wight, Ic. t. 733. — C. achyranthoides, Moq. Achyranthes, Z. Desmochseta, 

 DC. Pupalia, B, Br. — Habit of the preceding : leaves tapering at the base into a short pe- 

 tiole ; flowers pale, l"'-2"' long. — ^The characters of C. achyranthoides, Moq., are of no 

 value, and not even sufficient for distinguishing a special variety, Bentham having proved 

 that in the same spike the sterile flowers occur in different degrees of abortioh (Niger Fl. p. 

 493) ; the variable number of glochides is a mere consequence of this fact ; the length of the 

 same organs (which Moquin in C. prostrata states as equalling, and in G. achyranthoides as 

 exceeding, th^ calyx) depends upon their state of development ; and the lateral bracts of the 

 fertile flower are often in the same specimen either acuminate or terminated with a spinescent 

 and sometimes uncinate midrib. — His. Jamaica!, Al., March; S. Vincent!, Chtild.; Tri- 

 nidad!, Schach, Cr.; [Guiana!, Brazil!, New Granada!; Pacific Islands!; Bast Indies!; tro- 

 pical Africa, and Canary Islands]. 



Tkibe II. GOMPHRBNEJS. — Stamens monadelphous ; anthers ■unilocular. 

 Ovary unilocular.- — Leaves opposite. 



5. FRCELICHIA, Mch. 



Calyx !i-dentate : tube cylindrical, externally woolly, at length cristate With 5 (-3) longi- 

 tudinal crests. Stamens 5, wholly connate: tube elongated, 5-dentate; anthers oblong, ses- 

 sile between its protruding teeth. Stigma capitate (or penicillate). PeWcajy utricular. — An- 

 nual, downy herbs; superior intemodes elongated; leaves suhsessile; flowers arranged in 

 short compound spikes, of which the lower ones are distant ; bracts glairous, coloured. 



/6. P. interrnpta, Moq. I Leaves elliptical or lanceolate, villous beneath ; spikes ovate 

 or ovate-oblong, tapering at the top, lateral ones sessile ; calyx exceeding the bracts : crests -. 

 5, dentate, covered with wool; style distinct: stigma capitate. — Iiam. III. t. 180. /. 2; and ^ 

 L'Her. Stirp. t. 3 : the broad-leaved form ; Jacq. Ic. Bar. t. 51 and Book. Ic. t. 356 : the ( 

 narrow-leaved form. — Gomphrena, L. : the former ; T. floridana, Moq. : the latter. Both / 

 forms occur in Jamaica, and are not to be distinguished. — Stem I'-S'-high; upper intemodes 

 much exceeding the leaves; inflorescence terminal, constituted of a larger terminal, and 

 several pairs of opposite lateral spikes ; flowers purple, but enveloped within the silky cotton- 

 like wool of the calyx. — Hab. AL, March, in the dry, sandy fields of the south, e.g. near 

 Kingston; [Mexico!, Texas!, Tlorida!]. 



6. GOMPHRENA, L., B. Br. 



(Gomphrena, sect. Wadapus, Moq.) 



Sepals 5. Stamens 5, wholly connate : anthers oblong, alternating with and inserted be- 

 tween the protruding bipartite teeth, which terminate the elongated tube. Stigmas 3, 

 linear. Pericarp utricular. — Flowers capitate, forming usually glotose heads, at length 

 - enveloped by wool. 



7*. G. globosa, Z. Annual, erect ; leaves lanceolate-oblong ; flower-heads globose, 

 diphyllous at the base, usually solitary ; lateral tracts keeled with a serrate wing, exceeding 

 the woolly calyx; sepals uninerved. — Dese. Fl. 5. t. 320. — A pubescent but green herb; 

 flowers 4'''-5"' long, usually purple. — Hab. Naturalized in Jamaica {Br.) ; [introduced from 

 the East Indies]. 



