APETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 465 



petioled entire mucronate leaves, and greenish or purplish 

 flowers, crowded in axillary and terminal spikes or clus- 

 ters ; bracts longer than the sepals. 



* Flowers in small axillary clusters ; sepals and stamens 3. 



A. ALBUS, L. Stem erect, branching from the base, 

 smooth; leaves small, long-petioled, oblong-obovate, very 

 obtuse or emarginate, wavy at the margins ; clusters shorter 

 than the petioles ; sepals awl-pointed, much shorter than 

 the subulate spine-pointed spreading bracts, and half as 

 Jong as the rugose utricle. Cultivated grounds. May- 

 September. Stem 1° high; leaves ^'-1' long. 



♦» Flowers (green) crowded in terminal and axillary spikes ; sepals and stamens 5; 

 leaves long-petioled. 



A. HYBRIDUS, L. Smooth or nearly so ; stem erect, 

 branching; leaves thin, ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 notched, or tapering at the apex, long-mucronate, the pale 

 veins prominent beneath; spikes numerous, panicled, the 

 terminal one elongated, the lower axillary ones short and 

 roundish ; sepals oblong, acnminate, rather shorter than the 

 subulate bracts, and equaling the slightly rugose utricle. 

 Cultivated grounds. August and September. Stem 2°-3° 

 high; leaves 2-5' long. 



A. SPINOSUS, L. Smooth ; ste7n stout, succulent, often 

 purplish; leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse or emargin- 

 ate, long-petioled, often blotched with purple, spiny in the 

 axils ; terminal spike elongated, bending, the lower axillary 

 ones short and roundish; sepals, bracts, and rugose utricle 

 nearly equal. Fields and waste places. July-October. 

 Stem l°-3° high. 



FECELICHIA, Moench. 



Flowers perfect, 3-bracted; calyx tubular, 5-cleft, indu- 

 rated and spiny-crested in fruit ; stamens 5, united into a 

 long tube ; sterile filaments entire ; anthers sessile ; stigma 



20* 



