Allniania.] cxvi. AMAEANTACEiE. (J. D. Hooker.) 717 



dictotomously brancted, leaves short or long from linear or oblong to 

 spathulate and orbicular, heads sessile axillary and terminal globose. 



SiKKiM Tbbai, ClavJce. Mtsokb and the Cabnatic, Malacca, Sijtoapobb and 

 Cetlon.— DiSTBiB. China, Malay Islands. 



Mootstooh sometimes woody; branches rigid or flaccid, 6-12 in., glabrous or 

 hispidly hairy. Leaves excessively variable, membranous or rigid. Heads |-1 in. 

 diam., white or brown. Seeds turgidly lenticular, opaque or shining. — The following 

 forms are certainly varieties of no great constancy. 



Vae. angustifoUa ; glabrous, rarely with a few scattered hairs, often tall, leaves 

 1-3 in. oblong or linear-oblong or elongate obovate-oblong obtuse or acute, heads 

 usually large. A. nodiflora, Wall. Cat. 6980 A, C. E in part. Chamissoa angusti- 

 folia. Herb. Ham. C. javanica, Hassk. Fl. Jav. Sar. 434. — Mysore, Ceylon, widely 

 diffused. Java, Sumatra. — A tall slender unbranched form of this occurs, apparently 

 drawn up amongst grass, &c. . 



Vae. dichotoma; glabrous or nearly so, leaves shortly petioled |-1 J in. elliptic 

 acute, heads ^J in. A. nodiflora. Wall. Cat. 6890 E. in part. A. dichotoma, 

 Wight Ic. 1. 1771. Celosia dichotoma, Heyne in Roth Nov. Sp. 172. — Courtallum, 



Vab. Soxbttrghii ; glabrous or pubescent, leaves 1-2 in. spathulate or orbicular- 

 spathulate often apiculate. A. nodiflora, Wight in HooJc. Joum. Bot. i. (1834), 226, 

 1. 128 J Wall. Cat. 6890 E in part. Achyranthes nodiflora, Soxb. Fl. Ind. i. 678. 

 Celosia nodiflora, Linn. Sp. Fl. 205 ; Roth Nov. Sp. 17 ; Burm. M. Zeyl. 16, t. 5, f. 2. 

 — ^Mysore, the Carnatic and Ceylon. 



Vab. aspera ; hispidly hairy, other characters of Var. angustifoUa, A. aspera, 

 Wight Ic. t. 1770. Celosia aspera. Roth Nov. 8p. 173 ; Moq. I. c. 244. Chamissoa 

 dichotoma, Moq. I. v. 249. — Corn-fields, Coimbatore and Mysore. 



Vae. procumbens ; difiiise, branches prostrate often several feet long from a slender 

 or stout (perennial ?) woody branched stock, glabrous or sciibrid, leaves small 4-| in. 

 spathulate or linear mucronate, heads small ^J in. Wall. Gat. 6980 E in, part. 

 A. procumbens, Wight mss. A. nodiflora, Wight Ic. t. 1770. — Sands and Bed Hills 

 at Madras. — Disteib. Java. 



Vae. esculenta ; flaccid, glabrous, leaves 1-2 in. very narrow linear, heads usually 

 small sometimes pedicelled. A. esculenta, Br. in Wall. Cat. 6892 ; Moq. I. c, 249. 

 Chamissoa Brownii, Steudel Nomencl. JEJcl. i. 344, — Malacca and Singapore. 



2. A. alblda, -Br. in Wall. Cat. 6981 ; annual, erect or subereet, 

 leaves short or long from linear to spathulate or obcordate, heads ovoid or 

 oblong rarely globose peduncled. Chamissoa albida, Mart. Beitr. Amarant. 

 79; Wight Ic. t. 1769. 0. pyramidahs, Moq^. I. o. Celosia pyramidalis, 

 Bwrm. Fl. Ind. 65, t. 25. 0. albida, Willd. Sp. PI. i. 1197. C. nodiflora. 

 Wall. Cat. 6890 B. 



The Cabnatic ; in sandy soil near the coast, Wight, &c. Cbtion, common. — 

 Java, Philippines. 



Usually tall, erect, 1-2 ft. high, with erect branches, and foliage simulating many 

 of the forms of A. nodiflora, of which Thwaites regards it as a form, but I can scarcely 

 agree with him. 



6. DZGERA, ForsJc. 



An annual herb. Leaves alternate. Flowers spicate, 3-nate, the 2 outer 

 reduced to crested scales. Sepals 4r-h, oblong, outer larger 5-9-nerved, 

 inner 2-4-nerved. Stamens 5, free ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 0. Ovary 

 oblong, truncate ; style filiform, stigmas 2 recurved; ovale 1, erect. Nut 

 snbglobose, compressed, rugulose. Seed globose, erect, testa thin crus- 

 taceous, adhering to the albumen ; embryo annular, cotyledons linear. 



D. arvensis, Forsl:. Fl. .Mg. Arab. 65 ; Mog. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 



