otili AMAKANTACK.E. (AMAKANTU FAMILY.) 



short: stigmas 2-3, slender. Utricle roundish, 1-seeded, indehiscent, included 

 in the calyx. Seed vertical, lenticular. Radicle ascending. — Chiefly herbs, 

 with opposite petioled leaves, and searious glossy flowers, disposed in single or 

 paniclcd spikes or heads. 



§ 1. PHILOXERUS. Flowers perfect, crowded in axillary and terminal heads. 



1. I. vermicularis, Moquin. Smooth; stem much branched, prostrate 

 or creeping; leaves club-shaped, fleshy, semi-terete ; heads mostly sessile, ovate 

 or globose, at length oblong or cylindrical, obtuse ; flowers white; sepals obtuse, 

 longer than bracts, the two exterior ones woolly at the base. — Sandy sea-shores, 

 South Florida. — Stems l°-2° long. Leaves \f-V long. Heads 3" -8" long, 

 mostly terminal and solitary. 



§ 2. Irestxastkum. Flowers dioecious, disposed in loosely-paniclcd spikes. 



2. I. diffusa, IT. & B. Stem erect, somewhat 5-angled, smooth : leaves 

 petioled, ovate, acuminate, slightly denticulate-ciliate on the margin, smooth ; 

 panicle narrowly pyramidal, much branched ; spikelets ovate, obtuse, straw-color ; 

 sepals 3-nerved, smooth, acute, twice as long as the ovate bracts ; rachis slightly 

 pubescent. (I. celosioides, Ell. ?) In Florida, Michaux. Saline marshes, South 

 Carolina, Elliott. — Stem 2° -3° high. Leaves li'-2'long, the upper ones 

 lanceolate. Branches of the panicle alternate. 



8. ALTERNANTHERA, Mart. 



Flowers perfect or dioecious, 3-bractcd. Sepals 5, smooth or villous. Sta- 

 ■tens T>. united into a short cup at the base. Sterile filaments minute, tooth-like : 

 anthers 1 -celled. Style short: stigma capitate or 2-lobcd. Utricle indehiscent, 

 1-seeded. Seed vertical, lenticular. Radicle ascending. — Herbs. Leaves op- 

 posite. 



* Flowers dioecious : heads or spikes loosely panicled : stigma 2-lobed. 



1. A. flaveseens, Moquin. Stem erect, smooth, furrowed, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at each end, rough- 

 i>h with short scattered hairs, short-petioled ; panicle oblong, the branches alter- 

 nate, nearly leafless ; spikes oblong, lengthening, straw-color ; sepals of the 

 staminate flowers oblong, acute, nerveless, smooth, twice as long as the ovate 

 persistent bracts ; those of tbe pistillate flowers ovate, 3-nerved nearly to the 

 apex; the pedicels clothed with long white wool. — Margins of fields, Middle 

 Florida. July -Sept. (j) — Stem 2° -3° high. Leaves 2'-4'long, the upper- 

 most alternate and lanceolate. Panicle 8'- 12' long. Sterile filaments tooth- 

 like, minute. 



* * Flowers perfect : heads mostly axiOary, solitary or clustered: stigma capitate: 



items prostrate. 



2. A. Achyrantha, B.Br. Stems forking, pubescent ; leaves smoothish, 



oval or obovatC, narrowed into a petiole ; beads dense, oval, white; sepals lance- 

 olate, spine-pointed, woolly with barbed hairs on the back, the two inner ones 

 much smaller; sterile filaments subulate from a dilated and obscurely denticulate 



