AMARANTUS 
153 
2. *AMARANTUS BLITUM 
Amarantus bliturn L. Sp . PI. 990 (1753); Hudson FI. Angl. 356 (1762); Smith FI. Brit. 1018 (1800); 
Syme Eng. Bot. vii, 184 (1867); A. sylvestris Desfontaine Tabl. I' Ecole Bot. 44 (1804) nomen; Grenier et Godron 
FI. Fr. iii, 4 (1855); Rouy FI. France xii, 22 (1910); A. minor Gray Nat. Arr. ii, 289 (1821); A. blitum var. 
sylvestris Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii, pt. ii, 263 (1849). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 2212; Reichenbach Iconogr. Crit. t. 474, fig. 667. 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2131 ; Todaro. 
Annual. Stem usually erect, about 2 — 5 dm. high, glabrous, branched. Petioles long. Laminae 
ovate-lanceolate to narrowly rhomboidal, attenuate at each end. Inflorescences greenish, agglomerated, 
axillary, subsessile. Bracteoles lanceolate. Flowers sessile, polygamous ; July to September. Perianth 
greenish, segments 3. Stigmas 3, sessile, linear. Fruit elliptical to suborbicular, dehiscing trans- 
versely, 1 -seeded. Seed lenticular, dark red to nearly black; September and October. 
Rather rare and local ; a weed of arable land from the Channel Isles, Cornwall, Hampshire and Kent, 
northwards to Middlesex, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire. 
Western and central Europe, adventitious in its more northerly stations of southern Europe ; northern 
Africa ; south-western Asia ; Australia (adventitious) ; N. America (adventitious). 
Family 2. CHENOPODIACEAE 
Chenopodiaceae Du Mortier Anal. Fam. Plantes 15 et 17 (1829); Lessing in Linnaea ix, 197 (1834); 
Lindley Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 208 (1836); Volkens in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. i a, 36 (1893); Salsolaceae 
Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii, pt. ii, 41 (1849). 
Shrubs, undershrubs, or herbs, frequently more or less succulent, and with curious hairs which 
are often vesicular and which give rise to the so-called “mealy” appearance of the shoot. Leaves 
usually alternate (opposite in Salicornia :), simple, exstipulate. Flowers bracteate or ebracteate, actino- 
morphic, small, usually monoclinous. Inflorescence usually compound, the whole being racemose but 
with the branches usually cymose. Pollination anemophilous. Perianth monochlamydeous and sepaloid 
(often absent in pistillate flowers in A triplex ), persistent, usually 5-partite, with 1 — 5, usually 4 — 5 
segments ; segments more or less united below. Stamens 1 — 5, usually 4 — 5, not more numerous 
than the perianth-segments, usually hypogynous, rarely on a disc. Anthers introrse. Ovary con- 
sisting of 2 — 5, usually 2 carpels, usually superior, rarely (in Beta ) subinferior, with 1 loculus, and 
1 basal ovule. Stigmas usually 2, rarely brush-like. Fruit usually an achene, rarely (as in Beta) 
a pyxidium, usually surrounded by the persistent perianth. Seeds vertical or horizontal. Embryo 
peripheral. Endosperm usually present (absent in most species of Salicornia). 
The highly specialised characters of Salicornia render the definition of the family Chenopodiaceae unusually difficult. 
About 75 genera and 500 species, characteristic of arid regions in all the great continents, and 
spreading into the moister parts of the temperate zones. 
British tribes of Chenopodiaceae 
Tribe 1. Chenopodieae (p. 154). Leaves alternate, usually broad and flat. Flowers ebracteate, 
usually monoclinous, sometimes some monoclinous and some pistillate. Perianth present in both 
staminate and pistillate flowers. Achene more or less enveloped by the persistent perianth. Embryo 
peripheral, horse-shoe shaped. Endosperm present. 
Tribe 2. Beteae (p. 166). Characters of Chenopodieae , but perianth segments more succulent, 
stigma stouter and shorter, and fruit a pyxidium, subinferior, with thicker walls. 
Tribe 3. Atripliceae (p. 168). Leaves as in Chenopodieae. Flowers usually diclinous. Perianth 
of staminate flowers present and ebracteate as in Chenopodieae and Beteae , but usually absent in 
the pistillate flowers which are 2 -bracteate, rarely present along with 2 bracts in the pistillate flowers 
(cf. section Dichospermum of Atrip lex). Embryo peripheral, horse-shoe shaped. Endosperm present. 
Tribe 4. Suaedeae (p. 182). Leaves small, succulent, alternate. Bracteoles small. Stigmas 
papillate all round. Embryo rolled in a flat spiral. Integument of seed double. 
Tribe 5. Salsoleae (p. 184). Leaves as in Suaedeae , but often more or less prickly-acuminate. 
Bracteoles larger than in Suaedeae. Stigmas papillate only on the inner surface. Embryo rolled in 
a helicoid spiral. Integument of seed single, membranous. 
M. 11. 
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