372 



AMABANTHACEAE (AMARANTH FAMILY) 



distinguished from tlie following species chiefly by its smoother character, thicket 

 spikes, and longer-awned bracts. 



■t. A. paniculItus L. (Purple A.) Stem mostly pubescent; leaves 

 oblong-ovate or ovate-lanoeolate ; spikes long, numerous and slender, panicled, 

 spreading ; bracts merely awn-pointed ; flowers small, green tinged with red, or 

 sometimes crimson ; frxiit 2-3-toothed at the apex, longer than the calyx. (A 

 hi/hridns, var. Uline & Bray.) — Roadsides, etc. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



* * Flowers croioded in close and small axillary clusters ; stems low, spreading 

 or ascending; stamens and sepals 3, or the former only 2. 



5. A. graecizans L. (Tumble Weed.) Smooth, pale 

 green ; stems whitish, erect or ascending, diffusely branched ; 

 leaves small, obovate and spatulate-oblong, very obtuse or 

 retuse ; flowers greenish ; sepals 

 acuminate, half the length of the 

 rugose fruit, much shorter than 

 the subulate rigid pungently pointed 

 bracts; seed small, 0.8 mm. broad. 

 (^A. albus L.) — Waste grounds, 

 common. Fig. 720. 



6. A. blitoides Wats. Like the 

 last, but prostrate or decumbent; 

 spikelets usually contracted ; bracts 

 ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate; 



sepals obtuse or acute ; fruit not rugose ; seed about 

 1.5 mm. broad. — From Minn, to Mo., Tex., and 

 westw. ; also introduced eastw. , chiefly on railroad 

 ballast. Fig. 721. 



720. A. graecizans 



721. A. blitoides. 

 Tip of branch X y,. Seed x 4. 



§ 2. Utricle thinnish, bursting or imperfectly circumscisstle ; flowers monoecious. 

 7. A. spin6sus L. (Thorny A.) Smooth, bushy-branched ; stem reddish; 

 leaves rhombic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, dull green, a pair of spines in their 

 axils ; upper clusters sterile, forming long and slender spikes ; the fertile globular 

 and mostly in the axils ; flowers yellowish-green, small. — Waste grounds, Me. 

 to Minn., and southw. (Nat. from Trop. Am.) 



§ 3. EtiXOLUS (Raf.) Gray. Utricle remaining closed or bursting irregu- 

 larly; no spines ; bracts inconspicuous. 



* Leaves relatively large (2-3 cm. in breadth). 

 i 8. A. LfviDus L. Stem fleshy, red ; leaves emarginate, ovate 



A. or obovate, 2-4 cm. long, on petioles two thirds as long ; bracts 



K /ly( very short ; utricle thin, smooth. — About Atlantic ports, not very 



^^ common. Fig. 722. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



9. A. vfBiDis L. Similar, but with a warty 

 utricle. — About Atlantic ports; also reported in 

 O. Fig. 723. (Adv. from Trop. Am.) 



* * Leaves smaller. 



10. A. -pumilus Eaf. Low or prostraie ; leaves fleshy and 

 obovate, emarginate, strongly nerved ; flower-clusters small and axillary ; 

 stamens and sepals 5, the latter half the length of the obscurely 5-ribbed fruit. 

 — Sandy beaches, K. I. to N. C. 



11. A. DEFLExus L. Low, spreading ; leaves ovate, thin, flat ; spikes chieSy 

 terminal, thickish, bluntly cordate ; utricle ovoid, smooth, 5-nerved, much 

 longer than the sepals. — Waste land near the larger Atlantic ports. (Adv. 

 from Eu.) 



12. A. CRfspus (Lesp. & Th6v.) A. Br. Very slender, procumbent, pubes- 

 cent ; leaves small, light green, rhombic-ovate to -lanceolate, acute, the margin 

 crisped and undulate ; flowers in small axillary clusters ; bracts and sepals 

 scarious, oblanoeolate, acute or obtuse ; utricle about as long, roughened, neither 



722. A. lividus. 



Calyx and utricle 



x3. 



^ 



72S. A. viridis. 



Calyx and utricle 



x8. 



