62 PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. Salsola. 
ofan individual however inclined to promote the public 
good, can avail but little, when not powerfully and cor- 
dially assisted by Government. The Spanish ministry 
sensible of the value of that branch of commerce, has pro- 
hibited the exportation of the seed of their best Barilla 
plant, under the strongest nities. | 
2. S. indica. Willd. 1. 1317. 
Perennial, erect. Leaves linear, acute, semicylindrical, 
fleshy. Spikes panicled, leaf bearing. 
Teling. Ella-kura, 
With C. prostratum, Salicornias, &c. a native of the 
salt moist ground near the sea. It flowers during the’ 
most part of the year. —~ 
Stem ,woody, perennial, erect, very short, almost im- 
- mediately branching out into many diffuse, alternate ra- 
mifications which sometimes rest on the ground, but in 
general they are sufliciently strong to support themselves, 
Young branchlets erect. Leaves scattered round every 
part of the branchlets, erect, approximate, sessile, li- 
near, semicylindric, fleshy, smooth; half an inch Tong, 
and one-twelfth broad. In young plants, green, in older, 
coloured. Floral leaves shorter, and thicker. Spikes ter« 
minal, erect, compound, or panicled, glomerate, leafy. 
Flowers small, collected at the axills of the floral leaves.’ 
Calyx five-leaved ; leaflets outwardly semicylindric, with- 
in concave ; margins slightly membranaceous. Styles” 
two, or tonear the base two-cleft, hairy. Stamens shorter 
than the calyx. Anthers globular, two-lobed. Seed hori- 
zontal, beaked, enclosed in a tender membrane, which is 
enveloped by the succulent calyx. 
The green leaves of this species are universally eaten by 
all classes of natives wholive near the sea, where it is to 
be had ; itis reckoned very wholesome, and must be 80; as 
during times of § scarcity and famine, it is a very essential 
article of the food of the poor natives ; ~ dress it intheir 
