GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. 285 



prickly pointed loaves, ami fle-di-colorecl horizontal wings on the back of the 

 fruiting calyx, making a circular broad border. 



1. BOUSSINGAULTIA. (Named for the traveller and agricultural 

 chemi.-t. Boussingault.) 



B. baselloides, of South America : high twining plant, in cultivation her- 

 baceous, from oMong tubers resembling small potatoes: smooth, with some- 

 what heart-shaped succulent leaves, and slender racemes of deliciously fragrant 

 small flowers in. autumn. ^ 



2. BETA, BEET. (Latin name.) One species in cultivation, viz. : 



B. vulgaris, COMMON BEKT, from S. Eu. : cult in many varieties, with 

 ovate-oblong smooth often wavy-margined leaves, sometimes purple-tinged ; 

 (lower-clusters spiked; root conical or spindle-shaped. MANUEL WCRT/EL or 

 SCARCITY-ROOT is a mere variety, the root used for feeding cattle. 



3. SPINACIA, SPINACH. (Name from Latin for spine or thorn ; prob- 

 ably from the horns or projections on the frniting-calyx which become rather 

 spiny in one variety.) 



S. oleracea, COMMOH SPINACH, cult, from the Orient, as a pot-herb ; the 

 soft-fleshy leaves triangular or ovate and petioled. 



4. BLITUM, ELITE. (Ancient Greek and Latin name of some pot-herb 

 or of the Amaranth.) Fl. summer. 



B. capitatum, STRAWBERRY ELITE, the flower-heads as the fruit matures 

 becoming bright red and juicy, like strawberries ; leaves triangular and halberd- 

 shaped, wavy-toothed, smooth and bright green. Dry banks, margins of woods, 

 &c. N., sometimes in gardens. (!) 



B. Bonus-Henricus, GOOD-KING-HENRY, cult, in some old gardens, is 

 between a Elite and a Goosefoot, being slightly mealy, as in the latter, and the 

 calyx not fleshy nor fully enclosing the fruit, but the seed is vertical ; leaves 

 triangular and partly halberd-shaped ; flower-clusters crowded in an interrupted 

 terminal spike. ^ 



5. CHENOPODItTM, GOOSEFOOT (which the name denotes in 

 Greek), PIGWEED, &c. Weeds : fl. late summer and autumn. 



1. Either smooth or with scurfy mealiness, insipid, never hair// nor aromatic. 



C. album, WHITE G or LAMB'S-QC u:n;i;s; the coniiiioii'.-st species in all 

 cult, ground: pale, more or less mealy, with leaves varxing from rhombic-ovate 

 to lanceolate, cither angled.-tOOth.ed or entire, and flower-clusteri :u dense pani- 

 cled spikes. Yar. BOSCIANDM, wild in shady places, ir.o-tlv S., has loose 

 branches, obscure mealiness, and smaller loosely clustered flowers. 



C. Ul'bicum, in waste grounds, is dull green, scarcely mealy, the triangular 

 leaves coarsely and sharply many-toothed, flower-clusters in dense panicled 

 spikes, and seed with rounded margins. 



C. hybridum, MAPLE-LEAVED G. Waste grounds, unpleasantly scented 

 like Stramonium, bright green throughout ; the uidelv branching stem '2 - 4 

 hiu'h ; the thin large leaves triangular and heart-shaped, sinuate and angled, the 

 angles extended into a few taper-pointed coarse teeth ; racemes in loo-e and 

 leafless panicles ; seed sharp-ed-ed. 



-2. Not mealy or scurf;/, Inl iin'mit, !// ijlunilnlar nr jmlrAi-i-nt, aromatic-scented: 

 the seed sometimes vertical-. i 



C. Bbtrys, JERUSALEM OAK or FEATIIKI: GERANIUM. (Jardens and 

 some roadsides: low, spreading, almost clammy-pniie , nt, sweet-scented ; 

 leaves sinuate-pinnatilid, slender-pctioled : racc;iH". I'xK.-ly coryinhed. 



C. ambrosiokles, Mi \i< AN TK\, WORMSEED. Wa-!e -rounds, especi- 

 ally S. : rather stout, smoothish, strong-vut<'d : leaves oMoii._ r or lanceolate, 

 varying from entire to cut-pinnatitid, nearly sessile; spikes deiw, leafy or leaf- 

 less. This, especially the more cut-leaved var. ANTiiKLMf.NTK'r.M. i.-i u-ed as a 

 vermifuge, ami yields the tro 



