200 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
so closely as to appear like a sown crop. It was first noticed about fifteen years ago 
at Lamy by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, and was called to the attention of one of us at 
that time. It is now to be found in practically every locality in the State except in 
the higher mountains. The common name is misleading, since the plant resembles 
a thistle in no way except in being spiny. The plants when dry break off at the 
ground and are blown about by the wind as tumbleweeds.! 
38. DONDIA Adans. QUELITE SALADO. 
Succulent, more or less clammy herbs or suffrutescent plants with inconspicuous 
flowers and fruits; leaves terete, alternate; flowers sessile in the axils of leaflike bracts; 
calyx 5-parted, inclosing the fruit; stamens 5; seed vertical or horizontal. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES, 
Annuals; one or 2 of the sepals keeled; leaves broadest at the base. 
Plant depressed, spreading....... ween eee eee eee ee eee eee 1. D. depressa. 
Plant erect............220-2-0-- 2020-2 eee eee ee eee eee eee ee 2. D. erecta. 
Perennials; none of the sepals keeled; leaves narrowed at the base. 
Stems and leaves pubescent; leaves broad, short, stout; plants 
usually woody at the base...................2.2.00-- 3. D, suffrutescens. 
Stems and leaves glabrous; leaves narrow, long, slender; plants 
not woody at the base.............---2--2--2---2---- 4. D. moquini. 
1. Dondia depressa (Pursh) Britton in Britt. & Brown, [lustr. Fl. 1: 585. 1896. 
Salsola depressa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 197. 1814. 
Suaeda depressa 8. Wats. in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 5: 294. 1871. 
Typsé Locauty: ‘‘On the volcanic plains of the Missouri.”’ 
Ranae: Montana and Saskatchewan to Missouri and northwestern New Mexico. 
New Mexico: Farmington (Standley 6896). Alkaline soil, in the Upper Sonoran 
Zone. 
2. Dondia erecta (S. Wats.) A. Nels.-Bot. Gaz, 34: 364, 1902. 
Suaeda depressa erecta S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 90, 1874. 
Suaeda erecta A. Nels. in Coulter, New Man. Rocky Mount. 169. 1909. 
Tyre Locauity: Kern County, southern California. 
Range: British America to California and New Mexico. 
New Mexico: Farmington; Shiprock; Albuquerque; south of Roswell. Alkaline 
soil, in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 
3. Dondia suffrutescens (8S. Wats.) Heller, Cat. N. Amer. Pl. 3. 1898. 
Suaeda suffrutescens 8. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 88. 1874. 
TyprE LocaLiry: ‘“‘From Western Texas to Southern California and Northern Mex- 
ico, in saline plains.” 
RanGeE: As under type locality. 
New Mexico: White Mountains; Mesilla Valley; Tularosa; White Sands. Lower 
and Upper Sonoran Zones. 
This is frequently called ‘“‘yerba de burro” by the Mexican laborers in the 
southern part of the State, but this probably results from a confusion of the plant with 
the true burro weed (Allenrolfea occidentalis), which is much less common in the 
region. 
4. Dondia moquini (Torr.) A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 363. 1902. 
Chenopodina moquini Torr. U. 8. Rep. Expl. Miss. Pacif. '73: 18. 1856. 
Suaeda torreyana 8. Wats, Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 88. 1874. 
See also, Wooton, E.O. The Russian Thistle. N. Mex. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 15. 
1895. 
