AMANI'TA, a genus of fungi, nearly allied to agarievs, but bursting from a zolva. A. i muscarza, which is pretty common in woods, especially of fir and beech, in Britain, is one of the most dangerous fungi. It is sometimes called PLY AGAR1C, being used in Sweden and other countries to kill flies and bugs, for which purpose it is steeped in milk. The pileus or cap is of an orange-red color, with white warts, the gills white, and the stem bulbous. It grows to a considerable size. Notwithstanding its very poisonous nature, it is used by the Kamtehatkadales to produce intoxication, and it imparts an intoxicat ing property to the urine of those who swallow it, of which they or others often avail themselves, when abundance of the fungus is not at hand.
AM'ARANTg (anc. Ante Moranam), a t. of Portugal, in the province of Minh°, on the Tamega, a branch of the Douro, 32 m. n.e. from Oporto. The Tamega is crossed by a handsome stone bridge. The t. is well built, but dull and decayed. A church, erected in the 16th c., is an interesting specimen of the flamboyant style. A. was the scene of a fierce conflict between the French and the Portuguese in 1809, when the bridge was defended by the Portuguese for several days, and the French committed great barbarities. Pop. 5500.
All'ARANTH, Amaranthu8, a genus of plants of the natural order amaranthaceak This order contains nearly 300 known species, natives of tropical and temperate coun tries, but chiefly abounding within the tropics. They are herbs or shrubs, with simple exstipulate leaves, and flowers in beads or spikes; the perianth usually colored, 3 to 5 partite, hypogynous, scarious, persistent, generally surrounded with small bractem; the stamens hypogynous, either 5, and opposite the segments of the perianth, or some mul tiple of 5, distinct or united into a tube, sometimes partly abortive; the anthers either 2-celled or 1-celled; the ovary single, superior, 1-celled, with 1 or few ovules, which hang from a free central cord; style single or absent; stigma simple or compound; fruit, a small membranous bag or utriele, or a caryopsis (q.v.), rarely baccate; seeds lease-shaped,
externally crustaceous, embryo curved round the circumference; albumen farinaceous.— The genus amaranthus has mostly inoncecious flowers (although the order is generally hermaphrodite), with two or three stigmas, and a 1-celled, 1-seeded utricle, bursting all round transversely. Some of the species are naturally of singular form, and others assume singular but monstrous forms through cultivation. A. caoilatus (love-lies-bleed ing), A. cruentus, A. hypoehondriacus (prince's feather), and other species, are common annuals in our flower-gardens. The spikes of A. caudatus are sometimes several feet in length. The dry red bracts which surround the flower retain their freshness for a long time after being gathered • for which reason the plant has been employed by poets as an emblem of immortality.—The globe A. (gomphrena &bow) and the cockscomb (q.v.), well-known tender annuals, belong to the same natural order. Tlic globe A. is much cultivated in Portugal and other Roman Catholic countries for adorning churches in winter. Its flowers, which are of a shining purple, retain their beauty and freshness for several years. No species of the order can be regarded as a true native of Britain, although amaranthus blitum is now found in waste places near London and elsewhere. A. blitunt, A. oleraceous (chusan lian-tsi), and other species, are used as pot-herbs; but rarely in Britain. Wholesome mucilaginous qualities are very generally found in the leaves throughout the order. The seeds of amaranthus frumentaceus (called kiery) and of A. anardhana are gathered as corn-crops in India.—Medicinal properties are ascribed to some species of the order, particularly to gomphrena offirinalis and macrocephakt, which have a high and probably exaggerated reputation in Brazil as cures for many diseases.