AMARANTACEuE. 



137 



edged and mottled with white; "Cobalt/' silvery- white, 

 slightly spotted with purple ; " Coquette/' white, edged with 

 pink ; " Grenadier/' very rich dark buff ; " Isis/' white, 

 mottled with salmon, etc. etc. 



AMARANTA CEJE. 



Exogens, with membranous and dry flowers in heads or spikes, 

 usually coloured, and buried in imbricated bracts. Divisions of 

 calyx three to five, membranous, not falling off, herbaceous, and 

 coloured. No petals. Stamens growing below the germen, 

 either five or some multiple of that number. — Herbs or shrubs, 

 with simple leaves, without stipules ; natives principally of the 

 tropics ; the properties of the leaves are mucilaginous. 



CELOSIA. (CockVcomb.) 



Gen. Char. (Pentandria Monogynia.) Divisions of calyx three, 

 coloured like a corolla ; stamens united at the base by a plaited 

 nectary ; capsules opening horizontally. 



Named from the Greek for lurnt, as the flowers of some 

 species appear as if singed. The curious and very hand- 

 some species of this genus are really stove-plants, but C. 

 cristata and its varieties may be introduced into the green- 

 house after they have been brought forward in a greater heat ; 



