72i cxvi. AMABANTACE*. (J. D. Hooker.) [Pupdlia. 



Nbbal, TF'alUch. Bbit&alj MsMaii, . Clarke. DsoCAy Pehinsula, from 

 Gazerat southward, Singapore and Penang, Wallich. Ceyloit. — Distbib. Java, 

 Madagascar, S. Africa, Philippines. 



Biennial m- annual, 2-5 It. j branches long, straggling, glabrous. Leaves 1-5 in., 

 membranous, narrowed into the (J-1 in.) petiole. Spikes 1-10 in. ; rachia sparsely 

 pubescent ; clusters sessile, flowering ^ in., fruiting rarely ^ in. diam. ; bracts broadly 

 ovate, pungent. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, woolly. Awns often purplish. 



2. P. orbiculata, Wight Ic. t. 1783; sparsely pubescent, robust, 

 leaves short-petioled orbicular very broadly ovate or elliptic obtuse or 

 retuse nearly glabrous, spikes stout, clusters distant woolly. Dalz. £f Cribs. 

 Bomb. Fl. 219. Cyathula orbiculata, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 330. Achy- 

 rantbes orbiculata, Seyne in Soxb. Fl. Ind., Ed. Carey S^ Wall. ii. 507. A. 

 rotundifolia, Flein. mss. Desmocliseta orbiculata. Wall. Cat. 6936. 



CoNCAir Ghats {Dalzell). The Caenatic ; in sandy soil nfiar the sea, Seyne, 

 &c. Ceylon ; Jaffna, Moon. 



Stem stout, erect from a woody stock, terete, glabrate or hispidulous, rarely 

 tomentose. Leaves 1-li in. diam., rigid and brown when dry, suddenly narrowed 

 into the flattened petiole. Spikes 4r-8 in., rachis stout, sparsely hairy or pubescent ; 

 when flowering clusters ^ in. long, fruiting § in., spines pale 5 outer bract short with 

 a long spine, inner narrow, 



3. P. lappacea, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 331 ; shrubby below, 

 tomentose, leaves sbort-petioled from broadly ovate to lanceolate acute or 

 subacute, clusters remote or approximate, outermost bract very broad mem- 

 branons, sepals 8-nerved, densely woolly. Dalz. Sf Cribs. Bomb. Fl. 219 ; 

 Miquel Fl. Ind. Bat. i. 1046. Actyrantkes lappacea, Linn. Sp. PI. Fd. i. 

 204. A. echinata, Metz. Obs. ii. 12. A. patula, Linn. Suppl. 160. A. 

 lappacea, echinata & patula, Willd. Sp. PI. i. 1192, 1193. A. styracifolia, 

 Lamic. Diet. i. 546, eiccl. syn. Desmochseta flavescens, DC. Cat. Sort. 

 Monsp. 102 ; Wall. Cat. 6934. D. patula, Eoem. Sf Sehult. Syst. v. 550. 

 Amarantus arctioideus, Perrottet PI. Fxsic. No. 94. 



Uppbb GAtraETic Vailet and Panjab. Westeen Tkopicai Himaiata, alt. 

 1-3000 ft., from Kashmir to Kumaon. Behab, Scindb, Guzebat and the Dbccan 

 Peninsula. — Distbib. Tropical Asia and Africa. 



A large straggling undershrub ; branches terete. Leaves 2-4 in., base acute ; 

 petiole i-i in. Flowering clusters J in long, fruiting J in. diam. 



Vae. velutina; erect, subsimple, densely villously tomentose, leaves J-1 in., 

 shortly petioled orbicular. Desmochseta velutina. Wall. Cat. 6935 ; Moq. I. c. 332. 

 jErua velutina, Moq. I. c. 301.— Deccan Peninsula, Wight in Herb. Wall. Burma, 

 at Loungee Yenong and Pagham on the Irawaddi, Wallich. — Moquin has described 

 Wallich's 6935 under both Desmoehceta and .^rua, quoting the same number in 

 each case. 



10. PSIXiOTRZCZZUni, Blume. 



Herbs or shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers white or greenish, in 

 solitary or panicled dense clusters or spikes. Sepals 5, hard ; outer boat- 

 shaped, gibbous below, ribbed. Stamens 5, unequal, connate below into 

 a cup ; anthers 2-celled ; staminodes 0. Ovary oblong or subglobose ; style 

 slender, stigma capitellate or 2-fid ; ovule 1, pendulous from a long basal 

 funicle. Utricle globose or compressed, iudehiscent. Seed inverse, lenticular, 

 testa coriaceous or crustaceous ; embryo annular. — Speciea 10, Asiatic, 

 African and Pacific. 



* Shrubs or undershrubs with woody stocks and lower branches. 



1. P- nudum, Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii. 2, 280; shrubby, branches 



