92 
NAT. ORDER. AMARANLACEiE. 
of its flowers, there are but few plants tliat can vie with it in gran- 
deur. It is a native of Guiana. Flowers all summer. 
Amarantlius sanguineous. Spreading, or Bloody Amaranthus. In 
this species the stem is upright, about four feet in height ; they are 
firm, round, red, and streaked ; the leaves somewhat convex, or 
rather, so contracted as to possess the form of a boat, and pointed ; 
the older ones rather blunt ; the upper surface is a mixture of red 
and green, the lower more or less purple ; the petioles are tinged 
with purple, channelled, and quite rough, and winged at the top with 
the leaf ; the racemes are very red ; the branches smooth, — 
the lower ones spreading ; the calyx five-leaved ; leaflets oblong, 
blunt, membraneous, and red ; the bracteas subulate-setaceous, red, 
longer than the flowers, closely surrounding the glomerules. 
Amarantliiis caudatus. Pendulous Amaranthus, or .Love-lies- 
bleeding. In this species the stem is from two to two and a half 
feet in height, green, obscurely angular, grooved and streaked, smooth, 
and covered at the top with thin, whitish, scattered hairs ; the upper 
part somewhat nodding on account of the extreme length of the 
racemes ; the leaves are smooth, bright green, blunt, emarginate, 
with an incurved transparent point ; the petioles are much shorter 
than the leaf ; the racemes terminating, elegantly purple, very long, 
cylindrical, and composed of flowers very closely glomerate ; the 
calyx is five-leaved ; the leaflets oblong, red, acuminate, membrana- 
ceous ; the bracteas oblong, pointed, and scattered. 
Amaranthus maxhnus. Tree Amaranthus. In this species the 
stems rise to the height of seven or eight feet, sending off numerous 
horizontal branches at every ten or twelve inches ; the leaves are 
green, rough, and luxuriant; the spikes are seldom half the length 
of those of the other sorts, but are much thicker. It is said to 
degenerate gradually into the smaller kind. The seed, which at 
first are white, also become red. It flowers in August and Septem- 
ber, and is a native of Persia. 
