NAT. ORDER. — AMARANLACE^. 
93 
Amaranthus cruentus. Various-leaved Amaranthus. In this 
species the stem is a foot and a half or two feet in height, grooved, 
green with red streaks, smooth, and slightly pubscent among the 
flowers ; the leaves are green, spotted with brown above, red 
beneath, bluntish with a reddish short point ; the petioles are red, 
channelled, and smooth ; the racemes red and green, with branchlets 
spreading and nodding a little ; the calyx fiA'^e-leaved ; the leaflets 
oblong, pointed, white-membraneous, with a red nerve, and a point 
of the same color. It varies of a shining red color — with a red 
stalk with pale leaves — with a green stalk with variegated leaves, 
&c. When first cultivated in this climate, the stem is wholly red 
and smooth ; the petioles, ribs, and nerves of the leaves underneath 
purple ; the spikes purple, much spreading, and a little nodding. 
They are highly beautiful, and make a gay appearance for the first 
two years; but after that time the seeds degenerate, and the plants 
possess but little beauty, which is the same with some others of this 
genus. It is a native of the East Indies. 
Propagation and Culture. The propagation in most of these spe- 
cies is not effected without considerable trouble, as they require the 
aid of artificial heat in order to bring them forward in the' greatest 
perfection. There are few, however, that may be raised in the open 
ground without the assistance of heat applied in the above manner. 
The second and third species, being the most tender, demand 
much greater attention, and more artificial heat in producing them, 
than those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth kinds. And the first and 
last species are capable of being raised with still less heat than those 
of the above sorts, though not in the fullest perfection without a 
slight degree of it. 
In all the different species the business is accomplished by sowing 
the seeds annually in the early part of the spring months, say about 
the last of March, or about the beginning of April, on beds of good 
earth, either over heat or in the natural ground, according to the 
