152 
AMARANTUS 
Order 2. CHENOPODIALES 
Chenopodiales Lindley Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 207 (1836); Chenopodiineae Engler Fiilirer Bot. Gart. Breslau 36 
(1886); in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. Nachtr. 347 (1897); Syll. ed. 2, no (1898). 
For characters, see page 150. 
British families of Chenopodiales 
Family 1. ^Amarantaceae (see below). Flowers bracteate, crowded in a dense inflorescence. 
Perianth more or less scarious. 
Family 2. Chenopodiaceae (p. 153). Flowers bracteate or ebracteate, usually arranged 
in a lax inflorescence. Perianth herbaceous or even succulent. 
Family 1. # AM ARANTACE AE 
Amarantaceae Jussieu in Ann. Mus. Paris ii, 131 (1803); Schinz in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, 
pt. ia, 91 (1893); Amarantineae Rouy FI. France xii, 20 (1910) as a sub-family. 
Herbs, rarely succulent. Leaves large, alternate, flat, pinnately nerved, petioled. Inflorescence 
more or less crowded. Flowers with a bract and 2 bracteoles. Perianth membranous, green or 
purple, more or less persistent, more or less enveloping the fruit. Fruit an achene or a 1 -seeded 
pyxidium dehiscing irregularly or transversely. 
This family is closely allied to the Chenopodiaceae ; and indeed some botanists, e.g., Rouy (FI. France xii) unite them. 
The chief character which distinguishes the Amarantaceae from the Chenopodiaceae is the membranous nature of the perianth. 
About 54 genera and 520 species, warm temperate and tropical zones. 
The genus Amarantus belongs to the sub-family Amarantoideae Shinz op. cit., p. 97. 
Genus 1. * Amarantus 
Amarantus [Tournefort Inst. 234, t. 1 18 (1719)] L. Sp. PI. 989 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 427 (1754); 
Shinz in Engler und Prantl Pfla7izenfam. iii, pt. i a, 102 (1893); Rouy FI. France xii, 20 (1910). 
Herbs with alternate leaves, not mealy. Flowers monoecious or polygamous, July to September. 
Perianth usually with 5 segments, often 3, segments slightly united at the base. Stamens usually 
equal in number to the perianth-segments ; when less than 5, 1 or more subulate staminodes may 
occur. Ovary unilocular, uniovulate. Style short or absent. Stigmas 2 — 3, long, subulate. Fruit 
an achene or a 1 -seeded pyxidium. Seeds compressed, vertical. 
45 species ; chiefly in tropical or subtropical regions. 
Species of Amarantus 
1. *A. retroflexus (see below). Inflorescence crowded. Perianth 5-partite. Stamens 5. 
2. # A. blitum (p. 153). Inflorescences axillary, distant when young. Perianth 2 — 3, usually 
3-partite. Stamens 2 ■ — 3, usually 3. 
1. * AMARANTUS RETROFLEXUS. Plate 154 
Amarantus retroflexus L. Sp. PI. 991 (1753); Rouy FI. France xii, 21 (1910). 
leones : — Reichenbach Iconogr. Crit. t. 475, fig. 668. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 154. Flowering shoot. Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 631 ; Thielens et Devos, iv, 382. 
Annual, more or less roughly hairy. Petioles long. Laminae ovate to rhomboid-ovate, more or 
less undulate. Inflorescence green, crowded. Bracts and bracteoles rigid, setose, longer than the 
perianth-segments. Flowers July to September. Perianth 5-partite, segments ovate-lanceolate to 
oblong. Stamens 5. 
Locally common in the Channel Isles and (more rarely) in the south of England, as a weed of cultivated 
land, and in waste places ; Hampshire, Dorset, Devonshire, Cornwall, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex, and 
doubtless elsewhere; adventitious in the north of England. 
Tropical and subtropical America; adventitious in the western, central, and southern states of U.S.A., in 
Europe (from Denmark southwards), in northern Africa, and in Asia. 
