Phytolacca AM ARANTH ACE.E 589 



AMARANTHU * 



inserted at the base of the calyx. Ovary globose, of 5-15 distinct 

 or somewhat united carpels. Fruit a depressed-globose berry. 

 Seeds erect, compressed. Embryo annular, in mealy albumen. 



P. decandra L. Sp, ed. 2, 631. (Poke-berry) Glabrous and succulent: 

 stems 4-12 feet high, stout, erect, branched: leaves oblong-lanceolate or 

 ovate-lanceolate, pinnately veined, acute or acuminate at both ends, 8-12 

 inches long, petioled : racemes peduncled. 2-8 inches long: pedicels diverg- 

 ent, 2-6 lines long, each with a subulate-lanceolate branchlet at its b^se, 

 and usually 2 linear ones above: flowers perfect: calyx white, 2-3 lines 

 broad, its sepals suborbicular or oval: stamens 10, slightly shorter than 

 the sepals: berry dark purple, 5-6 lines in diameter, 10-celled. In waste 

 places in southern Oregon : introduced from the Eastern States. 



Order LXXVII AMARANTHACE^E J. St. Hil. Expos. 

 Fam. 204. (1805,) 



Herbs or low shrubs with simple leaves without stipules and 

 small monoecious, polygamous or dicecious flowers usually in 

 terminal spikes or axillary heads, calyx herbaceous or mem- 

 branaceous, 2-5-parted, the segments distinct or united at base. 

 Stamens 1-5. mostly opposite the segments of the calyx, hypo- 

 gynous. Ovary 1-celled, usually with a solitary amphitropous 

 ovule. Style short, elongated or none: stigmas 1-3. Fruit an 

 utricle, circumscissile, bursting irregularly or indehiscent. 



1 AMARANTH US L. Sp, 989. (Pig Weed.) 



Annual herbs with alternate petioled entire leaves and small 

 green or purplish mostly o-bracteolate flowers in dense terminal 

 spikes or axillary clusters. Calyx of 2-5 distinct sepals. Sta- 

 mens 2-5 : anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Styles or 

 stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit a utricle beaked by the persistent style. 



* Sepals 5, bracts 3. 



A. hybridcs L.'Sp. 990. Pubescent to nearly glabrous, green to pur- 

 ple : stem rather slender, 2 inches to 8 feet high, usually branched : leaves 

 bright green on both sides or paler beneath, ovate or rhombic-ovate, 1-6 

 inches long, on slender petioles: flowers very numerous, in dense linear- 

 cylindric ascending or spreading spikes, forming dense terminal panicles: 

 bracts subulate, 2-3 lines long : sepals 5, oblong, acute or cuspidate, about 

 half as long as the bracts: stamens 5: utricle smooth, circumscissile. 

 Common in fields and waste places : naturalized from Tropical America. 



* * Sepals 3: bracts 3. 



A. blitoides Watson Proc. Am. Acad, xii, 273. Nearly or quite glab- 

 aous, pale green: stem much branched from the base, the branches prostr- 

 ] te and spreading, rigid, 6-20 inches long: leaves obovate to spatulate 3-12 

 ines long, obtuse to acute at the apex, narrowed into slender petioles : 

 flowers in small axillary clusters mostly shorter than the petioles: bracts 

 subulate-lanceolate, little longer than the 4 or 5 oblong lanceolate acute 

 or cuspidate sepals : stamens 3: utricle nearly smooth. In waste places 

 and roadsides Idaho to the Atlantic States. 



A. grjecizans L. Sp. 990. A. albus L. Glabrous : stem erect, 6-24 

 inches high whitish diffusely and widely branched : leaves oblong, spatul- 

 ate or obovate, 6-18. lines long, pale green, long-petioled : flowers poly- 

 gamous, in small axillary clusters shorter than the leaves : bracts subu- 



