1222 
C. AMARANT ACEiE . 
[Amarantus. 
off with the fruit. Pericarp rugose, indehiscent, free from the seed, about as long 
as the perianth. Styles usually 3. — Euxolus viridis, Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 
273. 
Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller; Rockhampton, Dallacliy and others; 
Nerkool Creek, Bowman; a common troublesome weed. 
Common in waste and cultivated places in the warmer regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 
and now frequent in several parts of America. 
9. A. macrocarpus (long fruit), Benth. FI. Austr. v. 216. A small diffuse 
or decumbent plant. Leaves on long petioles, obovate or oblong, very 
obtuse or emarginate, about -|in. long or rather more. Flowers in dense axillary 
sessile nearly globular clusters, chiefly females. Bracts and bracteoles shorter 
than the perianth. Fruiting perianth of 3 rarely 5 narrow-linear erect very 
pointed segments sometimes slightly dilated below the point. Fruit oblong or 
almost bottle-shaped, 1J to 1^ line long, much exceeding the perianth, the 
pericarp inflated, membranous and reticulate-rugose, drying black in the 
common form. Seed erect, obovoid, much smaller than the cavity of the fruit. 
Hab.: Armadilla, Barton; Dawson River, Leichhardt ; Camoweal, T.P. Keys; not uncommon 
inland. 
Yar. iiallida. Fruit of a pale-green when dry. Perianth smaller and often reduced to 1 or 
2 segments. — Curriwillinghie, Dalton. 
4. PTILOTUS, R. Br. 
(Having featherless wings.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth-segments 5, linear, free or united in a very 
short tube at the base, rigid, the lower portion usually 3-ribbed and glabrous, or 
covered outside with articulate hairs or intricate wool, the upper moiety a 
glabrous coloured lamina, all glabrous inside, or the inner ones with woolly hairs 
below the lamina. Stamens 5, one or two of them sometimes small without 
anthers, all united in a short cup or ring at the base, without intervening teeth 
or lobes ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary uniovulate ; style central or slightly excentri- 
cal. Fruit an indeliiscent utricle. Seed vertical. — Herbs mostly (or always?) 
annual and glabrous except the inflorescence.' Flowers in globular conical or 
cylindrical spikes, with a woolly rhachis. Bracts and bracteoles scarious. 
The genus is probably limited to Australia. It only differs from some of the smaller flowered 
Tricldnia, in the absence of the dorsal hairs which, in the latter genus, give the lamime of 
the perianth-segments a plumose appearance. — Benth. 
Ferianths glabrous outside except a few hairs around the base. 
Leaves linear. 
Spikes globular or scarcely ovate. 
Filaments dilated under the anthers 1. P. conicus. 
Filaments filiform except at the base. 
Perianth not exceeding 2 lines. Bracts mostly acute and appressed . 2. P. corymbosus. 
Spikes at first conical, at length cylindrical 3. P. syicatus. 
Perianths enveloped in dense white cottony wool proceeding from the lower 
half. Leaves oblong or obovate. 
Spikes sessile, cylindrical. Leaves oblong ... 4. P. Murrayi. 
Spikes globular. Leaves obovate 5. P. latifolius. 
1. P. conicus (conical), R. Br. Prod. 415; Bentli. FI. Austr. v. 242. An 
erect glabrous annual, closely resembling P. corymbosus, but usually more rigid, 
1 to 2ft. high, with elongated branches. Leaves very narrow-linear as in that 
species. Spikes few on long peduncles, larger than in P. corymbosus, globular 
and 5 lines diameter, or at length ovoid and 7 or 8 lines long. Bracts narrow', 
acute or aristate, shorter than the perianth. Perianth-segments all scarious, or 
the inner ones more rigid and slightly ribbed at the base, 2^ to nearly 3 lines 
