282 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 2 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 

 2. ACANTHOCHITON 



Plant annual, glabrous ; stems striped green and white, erect, branched ; 

 flowers commonly dioecious, the staminate ones in glomerules forming 

 spikes, with a perianth of 5 sepals and bractless, the pistillate flowers 

 without a perianth, subtended by cordate bracts, these becoming 

 spiny. 



1. Acanthochiton wrightii Torr. in Sitgreaves, Zuni and Colo. Rpt. 

 170. 1853. 

 Holbrook, Navajo County (Zuck in 1897), Hopi Indian Reservation 

 and Little Colorado River region (Hough 60). Western Texas to 

 Arizona and Chihuahua. 



While young the plants are relished by livestock. They are also 

 eaten by the Indians of northern Arizona, both as greens and when 

 dried and stored. 



3. BRAYULINEA 



a 



Plant perennial; stems numerous, much branched, prostrate from 

 thick root, forming mats; leaves opposite, ovate, very unequal in size 

 in the pair, lanate-pubescent beneath, as is the inflorescence; flowers 

 perfect, in dense axillary glomerules; perianth 5-lobed; utricle inde- 

 hiscent. 



1. Brayulinea densa (Humb. and Bonpl.) Small, Fl. Southeast. 

 U. S. 394. 1903. 



Illecebrum densum Humb. and Bonpl. in Roem. and Schult., 

 Syst. Veg. 5: 517. 1819. 



Graham, Gila, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties, 3,500 to 

 5,500 feet, May to October. Western Texas to Arizona and south- 

 ward to South America. 



4. TIDESTROMIA 



Plants annual or perennial, lanate-pubescent; stems erect to pros- 

 trate, branched, herbaceous, or woody toward the base; leaves mostly 

 opposite ; flowers perfect, in small axillary clusters, the perianth yellow; 

 stamens 5, the filaments united, intervening staminodia sometimes 

 present; utricle compressed. 



Key to the species 



1. Plant annual; stems procumbent or prostrate, radiating from the root; blades 

 of the larger leaves broadly obovate to spatulate, the veins not prominent 

 beneath; perianth commonly 2 to 3 mm. long; staminodia minute or 

 wanting 1. T. lanuginosa. 



1. Plant perennial; stems erect, ascending, or decumbent, often woody below; 

 blades of the larger leaves suborbicular, ovate, elliptic, or oblong, the 

 veins prominent beneath; perianth less than 2 mm. long; staminodia 

 triangular, nearly half as long as the filaments of the fertile stamens. 



2. T. OBLONGIFOLIA. 



1. Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standi., Wash. Acad. Sci. Jour. 

 6: 70. 1916. 

 Achyranthes lanuginosa Nutt., Amer. Phil. Soc. Trans., ser. 2, 

 5: 166. 1820. 

 Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties, south to Cochise, Pima, 

 and Yuma Counties, 5,500 feet or lower, June to October. Western 

 Kansas to Utah, south to northern Mexico. 



