Deeringia.] 
C. AMARANTACE7E. 
1219 
2. D. altissima (very tall), F. v. M. Fragm. ii. 92, vi. 251 ; Bentli. FI. 
Austr. v. 210. A woody climber resembling D. celosioides but larger, ascending 
to the tops of the tallest trees, the young parts clothed with a soft rusty crisped 
pubescence which disappears from the upper surface of the older leaves, persisting 
underneath or at least leaving some traces along the midrib. Leaves ovate or 
oblong, rarely ovate-lanceolate, very shortly acuminate, thicker than in 7). 
celosioides, and attaining 8 to Gin. Flowers dioecious, more numerous than in 
D. celosioides, in denser spikes and larger panicles, the males much whiter and 
more petaloid than in that species, the stamens united in a scarcely prominent 
ring, the ovary ovoid and conical externally perfect as well as the styles but 
without any ovules ; the female flowers smaller, not so white, in more compact 
and less branched panicles, the ovary more globular with about 10 to 15 ovules, 
the stamens more or less imperfert or altogether abortive. Berry globular, red, 
scarcely 1^ line diameter. — Lagrezia altissima, Moq. in. DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 258 ; 
Lestibudesia asborescens, R. Br. Prod. 414 ; Celosia arborescens, Spleng. Syst. i. 
815 ; Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 213. 
Hab.: Endeavour River, Banks and Solander ; Port Denison, Fitzalan; Rockingham and 
Edgecombe Bays, Dallachy ; Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, A. Cunningham and others; Port 
Mackay, Nemst; or from the Tweed to beyond Rockingham Bay. 
The male specimens being the handsomest are the most frequently collected and the only 
ones seen by R. Brown and by Moquin. The ovary in them is so large that it has not the 
appearance of being abortive, but I have opened a large number without ever finding any 
ovules. From its membranous appearance Brown thought the fruit might be capsular, and 
Moquin that it might be monospermous, which accounts for their not having associated the 
plant with Deeringia. — Bentli. 
3. AMARANTUS, Linn. 
(Referring to the length of time some of the flowers retain their color). 
(Sarratia, Moq.; Amblogyne and Euxolus, Rafin.) 
Flowers usually monoecious. Perianth-segments 3 to 5, erect with scarious 
margins or (especially when in fruit) more or less dilated at the end into spreading 
scarious laminae. Stamens 3 to 5, free, without intervening staminodia. Anthers 
2-celled. Ovary uniovulate. Styles 2 or 3, free and stigmatic from the base. 
Fruit a membranous utricle, either circumsciss when ripe or indehiscent with the 
pericarp loose or adnate to the seed. Seed solitary. — Herbs mostly annual, 
glabrous or nearly so, green or red. Leaves alternate. Flowers small, in dense 
cymes or clusters, the clusters all axillary or collected in terminal spikes which 
are either simple or branching into dense panicles. Bracts and bracteoles small, 
green or scarious. The female flowers are usually much more numerous than the 
males, which are in the same clusters, chiefly in the upper parts of the inflores- 
cence, with the same number or with fewer perianth-segments than the females. 
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. 
The characters derived from the dehiscent or indehiscent pericarp or from the more or less 
spreading laminae of the fruiting perianth, are so little in accord with habit or with any other 
character, that I have thought it better to retain the collective genus as a natural and very 
fairly defined one, than to adopt the purely artificial disseverances proposed by Moquin and 
others. — Bentli. 
Sect. I. Euamarantus. — Pericarp circumsciss. 
Plant spiny. Stem smooth, terete 1. A. *spinosus. 
Perianth-segments mostly 5, erect. Tall erect plant with an ample panicle, 
the points of the bracts very prominent 2. A. paniculatus. 
Panicles long, narrow, long and drooping. Bracts not exceeding the 
perianth 3 .A. *caudatu ». 
Peria*th-segments mostly 4 or 5, erect or slightly dilated at the end. 
Clusters axillary and in a long loose terminal shortly-branched spike . 4 .A. leptostachyiis. 
Perianth segments mostly 5, with dilated scarious spreading laminae 
(when in fruit). Terminal spikes usually paniculate 5. A. pailidiflorus. 
