GENUS 10. 



GOOSEFOOT FAMIL^. 



21 



i. Corispermum hyssopifolium L. Bug-seed. Fig. 1705. 



Corispermum hyssopifolium L. Sp. PI. 4. 1753. 



Glabrous or pubescent, rather pale green, 

 somewhat fleshy, stem striate, erect, sometimes 

 zigzag, usually much branched, 6'-2 tall, the 

 branches slender, ascending or divergent, spar- 

 ingly leafy. Leaves narrowly linear, sessile, 

 \'-2' long, i"-2" wide, cuspidate at the apex; 

 upper leaves ovate or lanceolate, appressed-as- 

 cending, or at length spreading, acute or acumi- 

 nate at the apex, i'-J' long, scarious-margined ; 

 utricle ii"-2" long, i"-i" thick, narrowly winged, 

 obtuse, subacute or mucronate by the persistent 

 styles. 



In sandy soil, shores of the Great Lakes to the 

 Northwest Territory, Arctic America and British 

 Columbia, south to Missouri, Texas and Arizona. 

 Also in Europe and Asia. Bugweed. Tumble-weed. 



Corispermum nitidum Kit. (C. hyssopifolium 

 microcarpum S. Wats.) with smaller fruit and upper 

 leaves usually not imbricated, is a race of this, or a 

 closely related species, ranging from Nebraska to 

 Texas and Arizona and also occurring in Europe. 



ii. SALICORNIA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 3. 1753. 



Fleshy glabrous annual or perennial herbs, with opposite terete branches, the leaves 

 reduced to mere opposite scales at the nodes, the flowers sunken 3-7 together in the axils of 

 the upper ones, forming narrow terminal spikes, perfect or the lateral ones staminate. 

 Calyx obpyramidal or rhomboid, fleshy, 3~4-toothed or truncate, becoming spongy in fruit, 

 deciduous. Stamens 2, or sometimes solitary, exserted; filaments cylindric, short; anthers 

 oblong, large ; ovary ovoid ; styles or stigmas 2. Utricles enclosed by the spongy fruiting 

 calyx, the pericarp membranous. Seed erect, compressed ; embryo conduplicate ; endosperm 

 none. [Name Greek, salt-horn; from the saline habitat, and horn-like branches.] 



About 10 species, natives of saline soil, widely distributed in both the Old World and the New. 

 Only the following are known to inhabit North America. Type species : Salicornia europaea L. 



Annuals ; stems mostly erect. 



Scales very short, acute or blunt; spikes i"-ij4" in diameter. 



Scales mucronate-tipped ; spikes 2" -3" in diameter. 

 Perennial by a woody rootstock ; stems trailing or decumbent. 



1. S. europaea. 



2. S.Bigelovii. 



3. S.ambigua. 



i. Salicornia europaea L. Slenderer Jointed Glasswort. Fig. 1706. 



1753. 



Salicornia europaea and var. herbacea L. Sp. PL 3. 

 Salicornia herbacea L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 5. 1762. 

 Salicornia rubra A. Nelson, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 122. 



1899. 

 S. europaea prostrata Fernald, Rhodora 9: 206. 1907. 



Annual, 6'-2 tall, stem usually erect, much 

 branched, the branches slender, ascending, spreading 

 or nearly upright, their joints 2-4 times as long as 

 thick. Scales acute or rather obtuse, i" long or less, 

 broadly ovate or wider than long; fruiting spikes 

 i '-3' long, about ii" in diameter; middle flower of 

 the 3 at each joint twice as high as the lateral ones, 

 reaching nearly or quite to the top of the joint; 

 utricle pubescent. 



In salt marshes, Anticosti to Georgia ; about salt 

 springs in central New York ; in saline soil from Mani- 

 toba to British Columbia, south to Kansas and Utah. 

 Also in Europe and Asia. The plant often turns bright 

 red in autumn, forming vividly colored areas, hence 

 called Marsh-samphire. Frog-, crab- or sea-grass. 

 Pickle-plant. Saltwort. English sea-grass.. Chickens'- 

 toes. July-Sept. 



