AMARANTH FAMILY 67 



Suckleva Gray 1875 Suckleya 

 t \amed for the American naturalist, Suckley) 

 Sepals 4-5. united, petals none, stamens 4-5, ovary 1-celled, fruit with 

 crested margin and 2-toothed tip; flowers monoecious, in axillary clusters; 

 leaves roundish, toothed ; annual. 

 Stems spreading, 8-12 in. long; leaves 1-3 cm. long S. petioldris 



AMARANTACEAE AMARANTH FAMILY 



Sepals 3-5, often united, rarely none, petals none, stamens 3-5, ovary 

 1-celled, style 1 or none, stigmas 1-3, fruit a 1-seeded utricle or achene ; 

 flowers greenish, or purplish, with papery bracts, in dense terminal or axil- 

 lary clusters ; mostly annual herbs with alternate or opposite simple leaves. 



1. Leaves alternate; plants green 



a. Calyx always present Amarantus 



b. Calyx none in the pistil flowers Acnida 



2. Leaves opposite ; plant gray- woolly or gray-hairy 



a. Flowers in terminal spikes, densely woolly FROELICHIA 



b. Flowers in 'small axillary clusters . Cladothrix 



Amarantus Linne 1753 Amaranth, Pigweed 



(Gr. a-, not, marantos, withered, from the papery bracts) 



PI. 9, fig. 21-22. 



Sepals 3-5, separate, greenish or purplish, petals none, stamens 3-5, 

 ovary 1-celled, stigmas 2-3, fruit a utricle splitting circularly or remaining 

 closed, 2-3-beaked ; flowers usually with 3 bracts, in dense terminal spikes 

 or in axillary clusters; leaves alternate, simple, entire or wavy; annual. 

 1. Mowers in terminal spikes 1-6 in. long 



a. Leaf axils with 2 spines A. spinosus 



b. Leaf axils not spiny 



(1) Spikes stout, 1-3 cm. thick A.retroflexus 



(2) Spikes slender, .5-1 cm. thick 



(a) Top of fruit falling off like a lid 



x. Bracts beneath the flower 3 A. hybridus 



y. Bract single A. PoweUi 



ib) Fruit remaining closed 

 x. Bracts spiny, twice as long as the sepals A. Pdlmeri 

 v. Bracts not spiny, about as long as the 



^epal A. Torrevi 



