266 
AMARANTHACEiE. 
Anthers 2-celled. 
Abortive lateral flowers none. 
Utricle with circumscissile dehiscence * Amaranthus. 
Utricle indehiscent. 
Flowers woolly 1. .ZErva. 
Flowers naked 2. Achyranthes. 
Lateral flowers represented by hooked spines . . . . 3. Cyathula. 
Anthers 1 -celled 4. Alternanthera. 
* AMARANTHUS, Linn. 
Flowers polygamous, each enveloped in three bracts like the perianth- 
segments. Perianth of 5 or 3 free equal scariose glabrous segments. 
Filaments free, subulate, as many as the perianth-segments ; anthers 
2-celled ; staminodia none. Ovary 1-celled ; ovule solitary ; stigmas 
2-3, sessile, subulate. Fruit a membranous utricle, with circumscissile 
dehiscence. Seed shining, lenticular. — Annual herbs, with alternate 
entire petioled leaves, the numerous minute flowers in axillary and 
terminal spikes and panicles. Distrib. Common tropical weeds \ some 
species widely cultivated. Species about 20. 
Perianth- segments and stamens 5. 
Stems spinose * A. spinosus. 
Stems unarmed. 
Bracts much longer than the perianth * A. hybridus. 
Bracts about as long as the perianth * A. tristis. 
Perianth-segments and stamens 3 * A. gangeticus. 
* A. spinosus , Linn. ; Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. 2, 260, a universal 
tropical weed, is frequent in Mauritius. It has a comparatively 
slender branched erect stem armed at the nodes with spreading spines 
in. long, petioled ovate -rhomboid leaves, flowers in globose clusters 
in the axils of the lower leaves and spikes in the axils of the upper 
ones forming a little branched caudate panicle, pentamerous flowers 
under ^ in. long with ovate scariose obtuse or subacute perianth- 
segments, unequal subulate bracts equalling or exceeding the perianth, 
and a utricle as long as the perianth. Bredes Malabares d, piquans. 
*A. hybridus, Linn. ; Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. 2, 259, (A. lsetus, Willd.), 
a widely-cultivated species of doubtful origin, is said by Bojer to be 
naturalised in Mauritius in the streets of Port Louis and other places. 
It is a stout erect unarmed annual, 3-4 feet high, with large petioled 
oblong acute leaves, flowers in small panicles from the axils of the 
leaves and a very large and compound one from the top of the stem, 
pentamerous flowers T \- in. long with lanceolate acuminate segments 
scariose with a green keel, lanceolate-subulate bracts usually twice as 
long as the perianth, and a utricle as long as the perianth. Bredes 
Malabares. 
* A. tristis , Linn. ; Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. 2, 260 ; Wight, Ic. t. 514, 
713. (A. caracasanus, H.B.K. ), a cosmopolitan tropical weed, is plentiful 
in Mauritius and has been gathered by Dr. Balfour in Rodriguez. It 
