A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

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A FLORA OF MANILA
*2. A. VERSICOLOR Kegel. Cucharitas (Sp.-Fil.).
A slender, erect or ascending, much-branched, nearly glabrous herb,
the stems reddish, often prostrate below, 20 to 60 cm long. Leaves oblongobovate
to spatulate, acute or obtuse, long-petioled, the blades 1 to 6 cm
long, green and red or purplish. Heads axillary, sessile, solitary, ovoid
to subglobose, 5 to 7 mm long, somewhat hairy.
Commonly cultivated, fl. all the year; now found in cultivation in most
large towns in the Philippines. Probably a native of Brazil.
3. A. FRUTESCENS (L'Her.) R. Br.
A wide-spreading, branched, prostrate, perennial herb, the stems rooting
at the lower nodes, the branches up to 60 cm in length, the flowering ones
ascending, the younger ones clothed with long, appressed, weak, white
hairs. Leaves opposite, or the upper ones somewhat whorled, oblong to
oblong-oblanceolate or spatulate, petioled, 1 to 2.5 cm long, acute or obtuse,
entire, base gradually narrowed. Heads axillary, solitary or clustered,
white, globose to ovoid, 5 to 10 mm long. Anthers 5. Sepal"? lanceolate,
acuminate, about 5 mm long. Utricle compressed, obovoid, about 2 mm
long.
In open waste places, fl. all the year, common about Manila. A
native of tropical America, now thoroughly naturalized here, but not reported
from any other part of the Orient.
5. AMARANTH US Linnaeus
Erect, branched, annual herbs with alternate leaves. Flowers small,
unisexual, in dense axillary clusters or in erect or drooping, densely or
laxly panicled, spike-like clusters. Sepals 5, or 1 to 3, ovate to linear,
often aristate. Stamens 1 to 5, free; staminodes none. Ovary compressed;
style short or none; ovule 1. Fruit a compressed, indehiscent or
circumsciss utricle. Seed orbicular. (Greek "unfading.")
pines.
Species many in all warm and tropical countries, 5 or 6 in the Philip-
1. Spiny in the leaf-axils 1. A. spinosus
1. Spineless.
2. Sepals and stamens 5; bracts setaceous or awned 2. A. caudatns
2. Sepals and stamens 2 or 3; bracts subulate.
3. Plant dull-purple or reddish, 1 to 1.5 m high; leaves acuminate.
3. Plant green, 0.3 to 0.6 m high; leaves obtuse, often notched.
B. A. gangeticus
4. A. viridia
1. A. SPINOSUS L.
A stout, erect, glabrous, branched annual 0.4 to 1 m high, armed with
slender, axillary spines. Leaves long-petioled, oblong to oblong-ovate or
elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse, 4 to 10 cm long. Flowers about 1 mm long, in
axillary clusters and in elongated terminal and axillary, usually densely
flowered spikes, green or greenish-white, the setaceous bracts as long as
or exceeding the five sepals.
In waste places, gardens etc., fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines,
but certainly introduced. Most tropical countries.