CHENOPODIACEAE. 133 



bedded three together in each hollow of the thickened upper 

 joints forming a spike; the two lateral ones sometimes sterile; 

 stamens 1 or 2; styles 2, united at the base; embryo horseshoe- 

 shaped. 



Salicornia ambigua Michx. Glasswort or Samphire. Stems erect or de- 

 cumbent, 8-30 cm. high, from a somewhat woody base; spike 2-5 cm. long, 

 its scales short and acute; flowers subequal in size, as long as the joint. 



Common in salt marshes. 



163. ATRIPLEX. SALTBUSH. 



Annual herbs, usually mealy or scurfy; flowers in leafy spikes, 

 monoecious or dioecious; staminate with a 5-lobed calyx and 

 mostly 5 stamens; pistillate of a naked pistil between 2 appressed 

 foliaceous bracts, w r hich are enlarged and sometimes united in 

 fruit. 



Bracts ovate to linear, without crest-like thickenings; leaves 



linear. A. zosteraefolia. 



Bracts angular-ovate, usually with crest-like thickenings; 



leaves linear-lanceolate. A. littoralis. 



Atriplex zosteraefolia (Hook.) Wats. Stems weak, decumbent, 20-30 cm. 

 long, glabrous or slightly scurfy; leaves fleshy, linear, mostly opposite, 3-10 

 cm. long, 3-4 mm. broad; flow r ers in axillary clusters; bracts ovate to linear. 



Originally found on the shores of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca by Scouler; 

 recently found by Dawson and Macoun at various points on the coast of 

 Vancouver Island and adjacent British Columbia. 



Atriplex littoralis L. Stems decumbent or sometimes erect, 30-60 cm. 

 long; leaves lanceolate or linear, sometimes hastate or few-toothed, dark- 

 green, somewhat scurfy; flowers in terminal panicles; bracts of the fruit deltoid- 

 triangular, often tubercled or crested on the back, the margins thinner and 

 green. 



Common on the seashore. 



164. SALSOLA. 



Annual bushy-branched herbs; leaves rigid, subulate, prickle- 

 pointed; flowers sessile, perfect, 2-bracteolate, solitary in the 

 axils, or sometimes several together; calyx 5-parted; stamens 5; 

 utricle flattened, enclosed by the calyx, the segments of which are 

 appendaged by a broad membranous horizontal wing in fruit; 

 endosperm none. 



Salsola kali tenuifolia G. F. W. Mey. Russian Thistle. Much branched 

 from the base, forming hemispherical plants 30-90 cm. or more in diameter; 

 branches striate, often reddish below; leaves linear, bluish-green, sessile, 

 tipped with a sharp point, fleshy at first but becoming dry and stiff, 1-3 cm. 

 long; wings of the calyx persistent, membranous. 



Sparingly introduced but not troublesome as a weed in our limits. 



165. CHENOPODIUM. GOOSEFOOT. 



Annual or perennial, green and glabrous, white-mealy or 

 glandular-pubescent herbs; leaves alternate, petioled, entire, 



