Amaranthus. 



AMARANTHACEiE. 



143 



Order LXXXIV. AMARANTHACEiE. The Amaranth Tribe. 



Calyx of 3 - 5 scarious bract-like sepals. Stamens 5 or some multiple of that 

 number, hypogynous, distinct or monad el phous : anthers often one-celled. 

 Ovary mostly one- (sometimes several-) ovuled. Fruit commonly an utricle. 

 Seeds lenticular, vertical. Embryo curved around mealy albumen. — Herbs 

 or sometimes undershrubs ; the flowers (often monoecious or dioecious) in spikes, 

 heads or dense clusters, imbricated with dry scarious and mostly colored bracts. 

 Leaves entire, opposite or alternate, petiolate. 



1. AMARANTHUS. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 1972. amaranth. 



Albersia, Kuntk. 



[ From the Greek, a, not, imraino, to fade, and ojithos, a flower; or flowers which do not fade.] 



Flowers monoecious. Calyx of 3 - 5 sepals. Sterile fl. Stamens 3 - 5 : anthers 2-celled. 

 Fertile fl. Styles 3. Utricle opening transversely all round, or indehiscent. — Herbs 

 (mostly annuals), with alternate leaves and minute glomerate or spiked flowers. 



* Amaranthus proper. Utricle opening transversely all round. 



1. Amaranthus hybridus, Linn. Hybrid Amaranth. 



Stem sulcate-angled, roughish pubescent, somewhat branching or simple ; leaves ovate and 

 lanceolate ; flowers pentandrous, in dense compound erect or somewhat spreading terminal 

 and axillary spikes ; bracts twice as long as the flower ; utricle nearly smooth. — Linn. sp. 2. 

 p. 990 ; Willd. Amaranth p. 26. t. 9./. 17 ; Pursh,fl. 1. p 207 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 580 ; Bigel. 

 fl. Bost. p. 353 ; Torr. compend. p. 352 ; Beck, hot. p. 294 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 526. 

 A. paniculatus, Willd. 1. c. p. 32. t. 2.f. 2 ? ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 125. 



Annual. Stem 2-5 feet high, thick, usually with short erect branches towards the 

 summit. Leaves 2-4 inches long and 1-2 inches wide, roughish and somewhat glandularly 

 pubescent, emarginate and mucronate, abruptly narrowed at the base into a pubescent petiole 

 which is 1 - 2 inches long. Spikes half an inch or more in diameter ; the terminal one 

 elongated and tapering ; lateral ones shorter, clustered, and often more or less spreading : all 

 of them composed of numerous closely aggregated greenish flowers (sterile and fertile inter- 

 mixed, with a great preponderance of the latter), which are furnished with projecting subulate 

 6pinescent bracts. Calyx of five unequal mucronate sepals. Utricle thin ; the upper half 

 separating from the lower all round. Seed orbicular, flatly lenticular, black and shining. 



Cultivated grounds, waste places, etc. ; very common. Introduced ; perhaps from the 

 South. July - November. 



