NAT. ORDER. 
AmaranlacecB. 
AMARANTHUS HYPOCHONDRIACUS. PRINCE'S FEATHER. 
Class XXL MoNCEciA. Order V. Pentandria. 
Gen. Char. The Calyx is a fine or three-leaved perianthium, 
upright, colored, and permanent. Leaflets lanceolate, acute. 
Corolla none. Anthers oblong, versatile, especially the male 
flowers. 
iSpe. Char. The Pistillum has an ovate germ. Styles three, short and 
subulate. Stigmas simple, permanent. Seed, single globular. 
This is a most beautiful species of the Prince's Feather, so 
called ; the stem is erect, about a foot and a half or two feet in 
height, smooth except under the leaves, where it is a little scabrous 
reddish, roundish, streaked and grooved ; the leaves are red and green, 
acute, with elevated veins ; the petioles are channelled, and of a 
reddish color ; the 7-acemes are naked, red, lateral, short, and placed 
about the stem without order ; the calyx is fine-leaved ; the leaflets 
oblong, acute, membranaceous, and red. It varies with leaves more 
or less red — with very red and pale racemes — with a green and red 
— -with a rough and smooth stalk. It flowers from July to Septem- 
ber. When in blossom this plant is extremely delightful. It is a 
native of Virginia, 
The species that demand the attention of the gardeners and florists 
are numerous, and would require too much space for a proper de- 
scription. Among those mostly valued are the sorts hereinafter 
given. 
Amaranthus mslancholicus. Two-colored Amaranth us. The 
stems are upright, from six to eight inches in height, dark purple, 
smooth, streaked, and simple ; the leaves are blunt, simple, waved, 
cmarginate, wrinkled, mucronate, with a short white point ; the 
Vol. iv.— 90. 
