Scleranthus.~] 
XCIX. ILLECEBRACEiE. 
1217 
lobes and a single stamen opposite one of the lobes inserted in a scarcely 
prominent annular membrane at the mouth of the tube. Fruiting perianth 
nearly one line long, the hardened tube ovoid, almost closed by the stamenal 
membrane, crowned by the unenlarged persistent lobes and enclosing the mem- 
branous utricle. — F. v. M. PI. Viet. i. 211, IJitoca nntscosa, Banks in Gsertn. Fr. 
ii. 196, t. 126 ; Mniarum biflorum, Forst. Gen. 2, t. 1 ; R. Br. Prod. 412 ; DC. 
Prod. iii. 378 ; M. pedunculatum, Labill. PI. Nov. Holl. i. 8, t. 2. 
Hab.: Stanthorpe. 
Order C. AMARANTACE£}. 
Perianth-segments 5, free or shortly united at the base, rigid and scarious or 
coloured at least on the margins and tips, imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5 or 
fewer, opposite the perianth segments, free or united at the base, with or without 
intervening scales or teeth (staminodia of some authors) ; anthers 1- or 2-celled, 
the cells parallel. Ovary 1-celled, with 1 or several ovules attached to a filiform 
funicle erect from the base of the cavity. Style simple and entire, with a 
capitate stigma or more or less divided into 2 or 3 branches or seperate styles, 
stigmatic at the end or along the inner edge. Fruit a membranous indehiscent 
utricle or rarely a circumsciss capsule or a succulent berry, enclosed in or resting 
on the persistent perianth. Seed usually vertical, orbicular or ovate and com- 
pressed, testa crustaceous. Embryo horse-shoe shaped or annular, enclosing a 
mealy albumen. — Herbs or undershrubs rarely shrubs or woody climbers. Leaves 
alternate or opposite, entire, without stipules. Flowers rarely solitary in the 
axils, more frequently in axillary or terminal simple or paniculate spikes or 
rarely cymes or clusters, each flower sessile or rarely pedicellate, within 2 
scarious bracteoles, and subtended by a scarious bract or rarely by a floral leaf. 
A considerable Order, spread over the temperate and warmer regions of both the New and the 
Old World, disappearing in high latitudes and in alpine districts. 
Tribe I. Celosiece . — Anthers 2-celled. Ovary with several ovules. Leaves alternate. 
Herbs. Fruit membranous 1 . Celosia. 
Woody climbers. Fruit succulent 2. Deeringia. 
Tribe II. Amarantere . — Anthers 2-celled. Ovary with a single ovule. 
Leaves alternate. 
Stamens free. Flowers in axillary or terminal and paniculate cymes or 
clusters. Leaves flat 3. Aiiaraktcs. 
Stamens shortly united at the base. Flowers in dense single terminal 
spikes, often shortened into heads. 
Perianth-segments with the whole lamina scarious, coloured and glabrous 4. Ptilotus. 
Perianth-segments with the laminae more or less plumose with dorsal 
articulate hairs, the tips alone glabrous 5. Trichinium. 
Leaves opposite. Flowers 1 or 2 perfect surrounded by deformed ones. 
Stamens with interposed staminodes . . . 6. Cyathcla. 
Leaves opposite. Stamens united in a cup at the base, with truncate teeth or 
lobes between the filaments. 
Flowers 5-merous, in terminal elongated spikes. Bracts and perianth- 
segments acute 7. Achyranthes. 
Flowers 4-merous, in axillary or terminal spikes shortened into heads. 
Bracts and perianth-segments spinescent 8. Nyssaxthes. 
Tribe III. Gomphrene$,-l«t/iei s 1 -celled. Ovary with a single ovule suspended from 
the apex by an elongated funicle. Leaves opposite. 
Stigma capitate. Spikes often shortened into heads, axillary (rarely also 
terminal) 9. Alternantiiera. 
Stigma 2-lobed. Spike3 often shortened into heads, terminal or rarely 
axillary . - 10. Gojiphrena. 
