Flowers 3--5 in the same 5-lobed membranaceous broad and open involucre, which enlarges and is thin and reticulated in fruit. Calyx with a very short tube and a bell-shaped (rose or purple) deciduous limb, plaited in the bud. Stamens mostly 3 (3--5), hypogynous. Style filiform; stigma capitate. Fruit achene-like, several-ribbed or angled (p.u.b.escent in ours).--Herbs, abounding on the western plains, with very large and thick perennial roots, opposite leaves, and mostly cl.u.s.tered small flowers. (Name ????f??, _a vinegar-saucer_, or small shallow vessel; from the shape of the involucre.)

1. O. nyctagineus, Sweet. _Nearly smooth_; stem becoming repeatedly forked, 1--3 high; _leaves all petioled_ (except the uppermost reduced ones), _from broadly ovate to lanceolate, rounded or cordate or cuneate at base_; inflorescence loose and but slightly p.u.b.escent, the peduncles slender (at first solitary in the axils); fruit oblong-obovate, 2"

long, rather acutely angled.--Minn. and Wisc. to Tex. and La.; rare escape from gardens in E. Ma.s.s. and R. I.

2. O. hirsutus, Sweet. More or less _glandular-hirsute_, especially about the nodes and the usually contracted inflorescence, 1--3 high; _leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sessile_ and cuneate at base or narrowed to a short petiole; stamens often 5; fruit with thickened obtuse angles.--Plains of the Sask. to Wisc., Iowa., Neb., and Tex.

3. O. angustiflius, Sweet. Often tall, _glabrous_ except the more or less hirsute peduncles and involucres; _leaves linear_, thick and glaucous, often elongated (2--6' long); fruit as in the last.--Minn. to Tex., and westward.

2. ABRNIA, Juss.

Involucre of 5--15 distinct bracts, enclosing numerous sessile flowers.

Calyx salver-form, with obcordate lobes. Stamens 5, included, adnate to the calyx-tube. Style included; stigma linear-clavate. Perfect fruit 3--5-winged. Embryo monocotyledonous.--Low herbs, with thick opposite petioled unequal leaves, axillary or terminal peduncles, and showy flowers in solitary heads. (Name from ????, _graceful_.)

1. A. fragrans, Nutt. More or less viscid-p.u.b.escent, from a perennial root; leaves oblong or ovate, truncate or cuneate at base; involucre conspicuous, of broad ovate white and scarious bracts; flowers white, fragrant, 4--10" long; fruit coriaceous, obpyramidal, with narrow undulate coa.r.s.ely reticulated wings.--From W. Iowa to Utah and N. Mex.

ORDER 85. ILLECEBRaCEae. (KNOTWORT FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with mostly opposite and entire leaves, scarious stipules_ (except in Scleranthus), _a 4--5-toothed or -parted herbaceous or coriaceous persistent calyx_, no petals, _stamens borne on the calyx, as many as the lobes and opposite them or fewer, styles 2 and often united, and fruit a 1-seeded utricle._ Seed upon a basal funicle, the embryo (in ours) surrounding the mealy alb.u.men.--Small diffuse or tufted herbs, with small greenish or whitish flowers in cl.u.s.ters or dichotomous cymes.

1. Anychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted awnless calyx. Styles hardly any.

2. Paronychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted calyx; the sepals hooded at the summit and bristle-pointed. Style 1, 2-cleft at the top.

3. Scleranthus. Stamens borne on the throat of the indurated 5-cleft and pointless calyx. Styles 2. Stipules none.

1. ANCHIA, Michx. FORKED CHICKWEED.

Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. Stamens 2--3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle larger than the calyx. Radicle turned downward.--Small, many times forked annuals, with small stipules, and minute flowers in the forks, produced all summer. (Same derivation as the next genus.)

1. A. dichotoma, Michx. _More or less p.u.b.escent, short-jointed, low and spreading_; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate; _flowers nearly sessile_ and somewhat cl.u.s.tered.--Mostly in open places, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn. and Ark.

2. A. capillacea, DC. _Smooth, longer-jointed, slender and erect; leaves thinner, broader and longer_ (5--15" long); _flowers more stalked and diffuse._ (A. dichotoma, var. capillacea, _Torr._)--Dry woodlands, same range as the last, but more abundant northward.

2. PARONCHIA, Tourn. WHITLOW-WORT.

Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave, awned at the apex. Petals (or staminodia) bristle-form, or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. Utricle enclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending.--Tufted herbs (ours perennial), with dry and silvery stipules, and cl.u.s.tered flowers. (Greek name for a _whitlow_, and for a plant thought to cure it.)

1. P. argyrocoma, Nutt. Forming broad tufts, branched, _spreading; leaves linear_ (' long); _flowers densely cl.u.s.tered_, surrounded by conspicuous _large silvery bracts_; calyx hairy, short-awned; petals mere teeth between the stamens.--Bare mountain slopes of the White Mts., and in the Alleghanies from Va. to Ga.; also coast of Maine and near Newburyport, Ma.s.s. July.

2. P. dichotoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted; stems (6--12' high) _ascending_ from a rather woody base; _leaves_ (--1' long) _and bracts_ narrowly _awl-shaped_; _cymes open, many-times forked_; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place of petals.--Rocks, Md. to N. C. and Tex.

July--Sept.

3. P. Jamesii, Torr. & Gray. Subcespitose, much branched from the somewhat woody base, minutely p.u.b.erulent; leaves filiform-subulate, obtuse or mucronate; forked cymes rather close; calyx narrow-campanulate with turbinate base.--Central Kan. to W. Neb., Col., and Tex.

3. SCLERaNTHUS, L. KNAWEL.

Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the utricle.

Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct.--Homely little weeds, with awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish cl.u.s.tered flowers, and no stipules.

(Name from s??????, _hard_, and ?????, _flower_, from the hardened calyx-tube.)

S. aNNUUS, L. Much branched, spreading (3--5' high); flowers sessile in the forks; calyx-lobes scarcely margined.--Waste places. (Nat. from Eu.)

ORDER 86. AMARANTaCEae. (AMARANTH FAMILY)

_Weedy herbs, with nearly the characters of the next family, but the flowers mostly imbricated with dry and scarious persistent bracts; these often colored, commonly 3 in number_; the 1-celled ovary in our genera 1-ovuled. (The greater part of the order tropical.)

[*] Anthers 2-celled; flowers unis.e.xual; leaves alternate.

1. Amarantus. Flowers moncious or polygamous, all with a calyx of 3 or 5 distinct erect sepals, not falling off with the fruit.

2. Acnida. Flowers dicious. Calyx none in the fertile flowers.

[*][*] Anthers 1-celled; flowers perfect; leaves opposite.

3. Iresine. Calyx of 5 sepals. Filaments united below into a cup.

Flowers paniculate.

4. Frlichia. Calyx 5-cleft. Filaments united into a tube. Flowers spicate.

(Addendum) 5. Cladothrix. Flowers perfect, minute, axillary. Densely white-tomentose.

1. AMARaNTUS, Tourn. AMARANTH.

Flowers moncious or polygamous, 3-bracted. Calyx of 5, or sometimes 3, equal erect sepals, glabrous. Stamens 5, rarely 2 or 3, separate; anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit an ovoid 1-seeded utricle, 2--3-beaked at the apex, mostly longer than the calyx, opening transversely or sometimes bursting irregularly. Embryo coiled into a ring around the alb.u.men.--Annual weeds, of coa.r.s.e aspect, with alternate and entire petioled setosely tipped leaves, and small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked cl.u.s.ters; in late summer and autumn. (???a?t??, _unfading_, because the dry calyx and bracts do not wither. The Romans, like the Greeks, wrote Amarantus, which the early botanists incorrectly altered to _Amaranthus_.)

-- 1. _Utricle thin, circ.u.mscissile, the top falling away as a lid; flowers polygamous._

[*] _Flowers in terminal and axillary simple or mostly panicled spikes; stem erect (1--6 high); leaves long-petioled; stamens and sepals 5._

[+] RED AMARANTHS. _Flowers and often leaves tinged with crimson or purple._

A. HYPOCHONDRACUS, L. Glabrous; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute or pointed at both ends; _spikes very obtuse_, thick, crowded, the terminal one elongated and interrupted; _bracts long-awned; fruit 2--3-cleft at the apex_, longer than the calyx.--Rarely spontaneous about gardens.

(Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

A. PANICULaTUS, L. Stem mostly p.u.b.escent; leaves oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate; _spikes numerous and slender, panicled_, erect or spreading; _bracts awn-pointed_; flowers small, green tinged with red, or sometimes crimson; _fruit 2--3-toothed_ at the apex, longer than the calyx.--Roadsides, etc. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

[+][+] GREEN AMARANTHS, PIGWEED. _Flowers green, rarely a little reddish._

A. RETROFLeXUS, L. Roughish and more or less p.u.b.escent; leaves dull green, long-petioled, ovate or rhombic-ovate, undulate; the thick spikes crowded in a stiff or glomerate panicle; bracts awn-pointed, rigid, exceeding the acute or obtuse sepals.--Cultivated grounds, common; indigenous southwestward. (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

A. CHLORoSTACHYS, Willd. Very similar, but smoother and deeper green, with more slender, linear-cylindric, more or less flexuous spikes, the lateral ones spreading or divaricate, and the sepals more frequently acute or ac.u.minate. (A. retroflexus, var. chlorostachys, _Gray_.)--Cultivated grounds; apparently also indigenous southwestward.--Var. HBRIDUS, Watson, is similar, but smooth and still more loosely panicled. (A. retroflexus, var. hybridus, _Gray_.) (Adv.