Part 57

Var. glabra, Gray. More slender, _smooth and glabrous throughout_, or with few bristly hairs; leaves taper-pointed, more sharply toothed, mostly rounded or truncate at the base, _all more conspicuously petioled_. (S. palustris, var. glabra, _Gray_.)--Western N. Y. to Ill., and southward.

[+][+] _Nearly all the leaves long-petioled and cordate._

4. S. cordata, Riddell. Rather weak, hirsute, 2--3 deg. high; leaves all ovate- or oblong-cordate, acuminate, crenate (2--5' long), the floral mostly minute; spikes slender, of numerous few-flowered clusters; calyx only 2'' long; corolla glabrous throughout (or nearly so), barely 5'' long. (S. palustris, var. cordata, _Gray_.)--Thickets, S. Ohio to Iowa, south to Va., Tenn., and Mo.

ORDER 83. PLANTAGINACEAE. (PLANTAIN FAMILY.)

_Chiefly stemless herbs, with regular 4-merous spiked flowers, the stamens inserted on the tube of the dry and membranaceous veinless monopetalous corolla, alternate with its lobes_;--chiefly represented by the two following genera.

1. PLANTAGO, Tourn. PLANTAIN. RIBWORT.

Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, mostly with dry membranaceous margins. Corolla salver-form or rotate, withering on the pod, the border 4-parted. Stamens 4, or rarely 2, in all or some flowers with long and weak exserted filaments, and fugacious 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2- (or in n. 5 falsely 3--4-) celled, with 1--several ovules in each cell. Style and long hairy stigma single, filiform. Capsule 2-celled, 2--several-seeded, opening transversely, so that the top falls off like a lid and the loose partition (which bears the peltate seeds) falls away. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen.--Leaves ribbed. Flowers whitish, small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. (The Latin name.)

Sec. 1. _Stamens 4; flowers all perfect; corolla not closed over the fruit_.

[*] _Flowers proterogynous, the style first projecting from the unopened corolla, the anthers long-exserted after the corolla has opened; seeds not hollowed on the face (except in_ P. lanceolata).

[+] _Corolla glabrous; leaves strongly ribbed; perennial._

[++] _Ribs of the broad leaves rising from the midrib._

1. P. cordata, Lam. Tall, glabrous; leaves heart-shaped or round-ovate (3--8' long), long-petioled; spike at length loosely flowered; bracts round-ovate, fleshy; capsule 2--4-seeded.--Along streams, N. Y. to Minn., and southward.

[++][++] _Ribs of the leaf free to the contracted base_.

2. P. major, L. (COMMON PLANTAIN.) Smooth or rather hairy, rarely roughish; _leaves ovate, oblong, oval_, or slightly heart-shaped, often toothed, abruptly narrowed into a channelled petiole; _spike dense, obtuse_; sepals round-ovate or obovate; _capsule ovoid, circumscissile near the middle, 8--18-seeded; seeds angled, reticulated_.--Waysides and near dwellings everywhere. Doubtless introduced from Eu., but native from L. Superior and N. Minn., northward.

3. P. Rugelii, Decaisne. Leaves as in the last, but paler and thinner; _spikes long and thin, attenuate at the apex_; sepals oblong, acutely carinate; _capsules cylindraceous-oblong, circumscissile much below the middle, 4--9-seeded; seeds oval-oblong, not reticulated_. (P. Kamtschatica, _Gray_, Man., not _Cham._)--Vt. to Minn., south to Ga. and Tex.

4. P. eriopoda, Torr. _Usually a mass of yellowish wool at the base; leaves thickish, oblanceolate to obovate_, with short stout petioles; spike dense or loose; _sepals and bract more or less scarious but not carinate; capsule ovoid, never over 4-seeded_.--Moist and saline soil; Red River valley, Minn., and westward; also on the Lower St. Lawrence.

P. LANCEOLATA, L. (RIBGRASS. RIPPLEGRASS. ENGLISH PLANTAIN.) Mostly hairy; scape grooved-angled, at length much longer than the _lanceolate or lance-oblong leaves_, slender (9'--2 deg. high); spike dense, at first capitate, in age cylindrical; bract and sepals scarious, brownish; _seeds 2, hollowed on the face_.--Very common. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] _Corolla-tube externally pubescent; leaves linear or filiform, fleshy, indistinctly ribbed; seeds 2--4; maritime, often woolly at base_.

5. P. decipiens, Barneoud. _Annual_, or sometimes biennial with a stout rootstock, smooth, or the scape pubescent; leaves flat or flattish and channelled, erect, nearly as long as the scape (5--12'), acuminate; spike slender, rather loose. (P. maritima, var. juncoides, _Gray_, Man.)--Salt marshes, Atlantic coast, from Labrador to N. J. The characters distinguishing biennial specimens of this from the next are obscure.

6. P. maritima, L. _Perennial_; spikes dense.--Coast of Mass.; Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lab. and Greenland. (Eu.)

[*][*] _Flowers of 2 sorts (as respects length of anthers and filaments) on different plants, mostly cleistogamous; corolla-lobes broad, rounded, persistently spreading; seeds 2, boat-shaped; inflorescence and narrow leaves silky-pubescent or woolly; annual._

7. P. Patagonica, Jacq., var. gnaphalioides, Gray. White with silky wool; leaves 1--3-nerved, varying from oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (1/4--4' long), woolly; bracts not exceeding the calyx; sepals very obtuse, scarious, with a thick centre.--Prairies and dry plains, Minn. to Ind., Ky., and Tex., westward to the Pacific. Very variable.--Var. NUDA, Gray; with sparse and loose pubescence, green and soon glabrate rigid leaves, and short bracts.--Var. SPINULOSA, Gray; a canescent form with aristately prolonged and rigid bracts.--Var. ARISTATA, Gray; loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous, with narrowly linear bracts 2--3 times the length of the flowers. (Nat. on Martha's Vineyard, and about Boston.)

Sec. 2. _Flowers subdioecious or polygamo-cleistogamous; the corolla in the fertile (or mainly fertile) plant closed over the maturing capsule and forming a kind of beak, and anthers not exserted; sterile flowers with spreading corolla and long-exserted filaments; seeds mostly flat; small annuals or biennial._

[*] _Leaves comparatively broad, short-petioled or subsessile; stamens 4._

8. P. Virginica, L. Hairy or hoary-pubescent (2--9' high); leaves oblong, varying to obovate and spatulate-lanceolate, 3--5 nerved, slightly or coarsely and sparingly toothed; spikes mostly dense (1--2' long); seeds usually 2.--Sandy grounds, S. New Eng. to S. Ill., south to Fla. and Ariz.

[*][*] _Leaves linear or filiform; flowers very small; stamens 2; spike slender._

9. P. pusilla, Nutt. Minutely pubescent (1--4' high); leaves entire; _capsule short-ovoid, 4-seeded_, little exceeding the calyx and bract.--Sandy soil, southern N. Y. to Va., west to the Rocky Mts. Apr.--Aug.

10. P. heterophylla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or some of them below 2--4-lobed or toothed; _capsule oblong-conoidal, 10--28-seeded_, nearly twice the length of the calyx and bract.--Low sandy ground, Penn. to Fla. and Tex. Apr.--June.

2. LITTORELLA, L.

Flowers monoecious; the male solitary on a mostly simple naked scape; calyx 4-parted, longer than the cylindraceous 4-cleft corolla; stamens exserted on very long capillary filaments. Female flowers usually 2, sessile at the base of the scape; calyx of 3 or 4 unequal sepals; corolla urn-shaped, with a 3--4-toothed orifice. Ovary with a single cell and ovule, tipped with a long laterally stigmatic style, maturing as an achene. (Name from _litus_ or _littus_, shore, from the place of growth.)

1. L. lacustris, L. Stoloniferous but otherwise stemless; leaves terete, linear-subulate, 1--2' long.--In water or on gravelly shores, Nova Scotia and N. Brunswick, to L. Champlain (_Pringle_) and Ont.

DIVISION III. APETALOUS DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS.

Corolla none; the floral envelopes in a single series (calyx), or sometimes wanting altogether.

ORDER 84. NYCTAGINACEAE. (FOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY.)

_Herbs (or in the tropics often shrubs or trees), with mostly opposite and entire leaves, stems tumid at the joints, a delicate tubular or funnel-form calyx which is colored like a corolla, its persistent base constricted above the 1-celled 1-seeded ovary, and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp; the stamens few, slender, and hypogynous; the embryo coiled around the outside of mealy albumen, with broad foliaceous cotyledons_ (in Abronia monocotyledonous by abortion).--Represented in our gardens by the FOUR-O'CLOCK, or MARVEL OF PERU (MIRABILIS JALAPA), in which the calyx is commonly mistaken for a corolla, the cup-like involucre of each flower exactly imitating a calyx.

1. Oxybaphus. Involucre of united bracts. Fruit wingless. Calyx bell shaped.

2. Abronia. Involucre of distinct bracts. Fruit 5-winged. Calyx salver-form.

1. OXYBAPHUS, Vahl.

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 (pubescent in ours).--Herbs, abounding on the western plains, with very large and thick perennial roots, opposite leaves, and mostly clustered small flowers. (Name [Greek: o)xyba/phon], _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 deg. 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 pubescent, 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. Mass. and R. I.

2. O. hirsutus, Sweet. More or less _glandular-hirsute_, especially about the nodes and the usually contracted inflorescence, 1--3 deg. 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. angustifolius, 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. ABRONIA, 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 [Greek: a(bro/s], _graceful_.)

1. A. fragrans, Nutt. More or less viscid-pubescent, 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 coarsely 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 albumen.--Small diffuse or tufted herbs, with small greenish or whitish flowers in clusters 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. ANYCHIA, 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 pubescent, short-jointed, low and spreading_; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate; _flowers nearly sessile_ and somewhat clustered.--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. PARONYCHIA, 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 clustered 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_ (1/2' long); _flowers densely clustered_, 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, Mass. July.

2. P. dichotoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted; stems (6--12' high) _ascending_ from a rather woody base; _leaves_ (1/2--11/2' 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 puberulent; 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 clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name from [Greek: sklero/s], _hard_, and [Greek: a)/nthos], _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 unisexual; leaves alternate.

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

2. Acnida. Flowers dioecious. 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. Froelichia. 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 monoecious 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 albumen.--Annual weeds, of coarse aspect, with alternate and entire petioled setosely tipped leaves, and small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked clusters; in late summer and autumn. ([Greek: A)ma/rantos], _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_.)

Sec. 1. _Utricle thin, circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid; flowers polygamous._

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

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

A. HYPOCHONDRIACUS, 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 pubescent; 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 pubescent; 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 acuminate. (A. retroflexus, var. chlorostachys, _Gray_.)--Cultivated grounds; apparently also indigenous southwestward.--Var. HYBRIDUS, Watson, is similar, but smooth and still more loosely panicled. (A. retroflexus, var. hybridus, _Gray_.) (Adv. from Trop. Amer.)

[*][*] _Flowers crowded in close and small axillary clusters; stems low, spreading or ascending; stamens and sepals 3, or the former only 2._

1. A. albus, L. (TUMBLE WEED.) Smooth, pale green; _stems whitish, erect or ascending_, diffusely branched; leaves small, obovate and spatulate-oblong, very obtuse or retuse; flowers greenish; sepals acuminate, half the length of the _rugose fruit_, much shorter than the _subulate rigid pungently pointed bracts; seed small, {2/3}'' broad_.--Waste grounds, common.

2. A. blitoides, Watson. Like the last, but _prostrate or decumbent_; spikelets usually contracted; _bracts ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate_; sepals obtuse or acute; _fruit not rugose; seed about 1'' broad_.--From Minn. to Mo. and Tex., and westward, and introduced eastward as far as western N. Y.

A. BLITUM, L., resembles the last, but is usually erect, with shorter and more scarious bracts, and a smaller seed more notched at the hilum.--Near N. Y. City and Boston. (Adv. from Eu.)

Sec. 2. _Utricle thinnish, bursting or imperfectly circumscissile; flowers monoecious._

A. SPINOSUS, L. (THORNY AMARANTH.) Smooth, bushy-branched; stem reddish; leaves rhombic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, dull green, a pair of _spines in their axils_; upper clusters sterile, forming long and slender spikes; the fertile globular and mostly in the axils; flowers yellowish-green, small.--Waste grounds, N. Y. to E. Kan., and southward. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

Sec. 3. EUXOLUS. _Utricle rather fleshy, remaining closed or bursting irregularly; no spines; bracts inconspicuous._

3. A. pumilus, Raf. Low or prostrate; leaves fleshy and obovate, emarginate, strongly nerved; flower-clusters small and axillary; _stamens and sepals_ 5, the latter half the length of the obscurely 5-ribbed fruit.--Sandy beaches, R. I. to Va.

A. CRISPUS, Braun. Very slender, procumbent, pubescent; leaves small, light green, rhombic-ovate to -lanceolate, acute, the margin crisped and undulate; flowers in small axillary clusters; bracts and sepals scarious, oblanceolate, acute or obtuse; utricle about as long, roughened, not nerved nor angled. (A. viridis, _Man._)--Streets of Albany, New York City and Brooklyn; doubtless introduced, but the native habitat unknown.

2. ACNIDA, Mitch. WATER-HEMP.

Characters of Amarantus, except that the flowers are completely dioecious and the pistillate ones without calyx. Bracts 1--3, unequal. Staminate calyx of 5 thin oblong mucronate-tipped sepals, longer than the bracts; stamens 5, the anther-cells united only at the middle. Stigmas 2--5, often long and plumose-hispid. Fruit somewhat coriaceous and indehiscent, or a thin membranous utricle dehiscing irregularly (rarely circumscissile), usually 3--5-angled. (Name from [Greek: a-] privative, and [Greek: kni/de], _a nettle_.)

Sec. 1. ACNIDA proper. _Fruit indehiscent, with firm and close pericarp._

1. A. cannabina, L. Usually stout, 2--6 deg. high or more, glabrous; leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, long-petioled; sepals of sterile flowers ovate-oblong, obtuse or acutish; bracts usually thin and lax, much shorter than the fruit, sometimes more rigid and longer; fruit about 1'' long, obovate, the pericarp rather thin, more or less rugosely angled; seed somewhat turgid, not angled, usually less than 1'' long, shining.--Salt or brackish marshes, coast of N. Eng. to Fla.

2. A. rusocarpa, Michx. Very similar; fruit larger, 11/2--2'' long, the pericarp thicker, and the larger seed flattened with thick margins, usually thickest on the cotyledonar side.--N. Y. (?) and Penn. to S. Car.; apparently much less common than the last, though it is often difficult to positively distinguish the species from the immature fruit.

Sec. 2. MONTELIA. _Fruit dehiscing irregularly, the pericarp thin, loose and usually roughened; not salt-marsh plants._

3. A. tuberculata, Moq. Tall and erect, or sometimes low and decumbent; leaves lanceolate, acute or acutish or sometimes obtuse; sepals of sterile flowers lanceolate, acute or acuminate; pistillate flowers closely clustered in more or less dense naked or leafy axillary and terminal spikes (or the axillary capitate); bracts rather rigid, acuminate, equalling or exceeding the fruit; utricle about 1/2'' long; seed shining, 1/2--{1/3}'' in diameter. (Montelia tamariscina, _Gray_, in part.)--Ohio to Dak., Mo., Ala., and La.

Var. subnuda, Watson. Erect or often prostrate, the lower clusters at least of pistillate flowers more or less cymose and often in globose heads; bracts thinner, narrow and lax, shorter than the fruit. (M. tamariscina, var. concatenata, _Gray_, in part.)--W. Vt. (_Oakes_); Ont. to Minn., and southward. Often appearing quite distinct from the type, but intermediate forms are not rare.

3. IRESINE, P. Browne.

Flowers mostly polygamous or dioecious, 3-bracted. Calyx of 5 sepals. Stamens mostly 5; filaments slender, united into a short cup at base; anthers 1-celled, ovate. Fruit a globular utricle, not opening.--Herbs, with opposite petioled leaves, and minute scarious-white flowers, crowded into clusters or spiked and branching panicles; the calyx, etc., often bearing long wool (whence the name, from [Greek: ei)resio/ne], a wreath or staff entwined with fillets of wool).

1. I. celosioides, L. Nearly glabrous, annual, erect, slender (2--4 deg. high); leaves ovate-lanceolate; panicles very slender, often broad and diffuse, naked; bracts and calyx silvery-white, the fertile calyx twice longer than the broad bracts and densely silky-villous at base.--Dry banks, Ohio to Kan., and far southward. Sept.

4. FROELICHIA, Moench.