406 THE SEA SHORE 



flowers being on the same plant. They are also distinguished from 

 most other Chenopods by the perianth adhering to the wall of the 

 ovary. The Shrubby Sea Purslane (0. portulacoides) is, as its 

 name implies, a shrubby plant. It grows to a height of eighteen 

 inches or two feet, bearing silvery oval lanceolate leaves and sessile 

 fruit. The other species referred to the Stalked Sea Purslane 

 (0. pedunculata) is herbaceous, with oval, mealy leaves, and 

 stalked fruit. 



The Oraches (genus Atriplex) resemble the Purslanes in the 

 granular mealiness of the foliage, and the two are so closely allied 

 that they are often placed in the same genus. Oraches are most 

 readily distinguished among the Chenopods by the two bracts which 

 enclose the fruit and enlarge after flowering ; and, like the Purslanes, 

 they have unisexual flowers, both male and female being on the 



FIG. 293.- THE FROSTED FIG. 294. THE PRICKLY 



SEA ORACHE SALT WORT 



same plant. Three of our five British species are sea-side plants. 

 The Frosted Sea Orache (A. arenaria) grows on sandy shores, 

 about six or eight inches in height, and flowers during late summer 

 and autumn. It may be known by its buff-coloured stem, with 

 triangular or rhomboidal, jagged, silvery leaves, and clusters of 

 sessile flowers in the axils of the leaves. Another species (A. 

 Babingtoni't) may be seen on both rocky and sandy shores, usually 

 from one to two feet in height, and flowering from July to September. 

 Its stem is procumbent, green with reddish stripes ; leaves oval- 

 triangular, lanceolate towards the top, three-lobed at the base of 

 the stem, light green, with a mealy surface ; flowers in terminal 

 clusters as well as in the axils of the leaves. A third species the 

 Grass-leaved Orache (A. littoralis) grows in salt marshes. All 

 its leaves are grass-like and entire, and the stem is generally marked 



