Under these circumstances I deem myself fortu- 

 nate in thus having an opportunity of extending our 

 knowledge of so old, but little known, a genus. 



1786. Chknopodium ambbosioibes (Linn.), stem 

 herbaceous, erect, furrowed, branched; leaves petiol- 

 ed, ascending, oblong, attenuated at both ends, re- 

 motely sinuately -toothed or nearly entire ; glanduloso- 

 puberulous beneath ; the upper ones linear lanceolate, 

 entire : racemes glomerato-spicate, compact, leafy : 

 fructiferous calyx closed, not keeled : seed obtuse on 

 the margin, smooth, shining. 



Coimbatore, in waste ground and among rubbish, 

 flowering dmung the rainy and cool season, often three 

 or four feet high, and exhaling a peculiar aromatic 

 odour. 



This plant does not quite correspond with the char- Persian plant, 

 acter, in so far as I find it polygamous, sterile flowers 

 being mixed with the fertile ones, and the stamens 

 of the fertile flowers being often without pollen ; 

 peculiarities not mentioned in either the generic or 

 specific characters- Both forms of anthers are ex- 

 hibited at figure 6, the upper ones being sterile. In 



1789. Obione Stocksh (R. W,), stem shrubby, 

 very ramous, ascending or difiuse, branches round, 

 glabrous, unarmed : leaves alternate, short petioled, 

 elliptic obtuse, tending to obovate, smooth, glabrous, 

 turnmg white in drying, not powdery, sheath of the 

 bracts conical, limbs orbiculai', free, entire; disk 

 smooth. 



Scinde, Stocks, in salt marshy soils, apparently a 

 low somewhat spreading very ramous shi'ub, the lead- 

 ing branches spreading, branchlets ascen(Ung. The 

 surface of the leaves, when moistened and viewed 

 under the microscope, seem as if covered with most 

 delicate lace ; they appear, fi-om the dried specimen, 

 to be succulent and veiuless, the costa being scarcely 

 visible. The bracts on the other hand, when viewed 

 with transmitted light, show quite a network of veins. 

 This species seems nearly allied to O. Belangeri^ a 



1790. Obione KONEGn (Moq.), stem shrubby, 

 procumbent, striated, sparingly branched, unarmed : 

 leaves alternate, petioled, small, divaricate, obovato- 

 orbicular, very obtuse, entire, scaly-white : theca of 



these respects it approaches Ragodia but diflfers in 

 others, giving rise to the suspicion that it may form 

 the type of a new genus. 



the bracts sub-sessile, obovate, the apex very obtuse, 

 margin somewhat sinuate, disk muricate, somewhat 



coriaceous. 



Sea coast near Tuticorin. 



1787. 



HETERANTHA (R. W.) 



This is a straggling plant, its branches sometimes 

 two or three feet long. It is at once distinguished 



dioicous, herbaceous, erect, glabrous : leaves petioled, *'^.^„^ .^.^*^ l'^^^, P^^P.^^^^ bracts, which in this 



ovate, pointed, membranous: male spikes axillary, 

 sometimes racemose, some fertile flowers mixed with 

 the sterile ones, calyx 4-5 sepals or deeply 4-5 -part- 

 ed : stamens shorter than the lobes : female spikes 

 long, slender, interrupted, glomerules 4-5 female with 

 one or two male flowers in the centre : bracts of the 

 females cohering near the base, ovate, blunt, enlarging 

 with the fruit, at length suborbicular, glabrous. 



Coimbatore, in salt clay soil and among old rubbish 

 in the neighbourhood of brick kilns. 



This species seems referable to Moquin's first sec- 

 tion in which both forms of flowers ai-e fructiferous, 

 but seems very distinct from all his species. 



1788. 



(Moq.) 



ing, striated, ramous; branches unarmed: leaves alter- 

 nate, petioled, divaricated, ovato-lanceolate or dcl- 

 toideo-ovate, obtuse, entire, sometimes somewhat sin- 

 uate, thin somewhat mealy glaucous green : sheath of 

 the bracts pedicelled, ovate, obtuse at the apex, den- 

 ticulate below with the margin entire, disk inapen- 

 diculate, and obsoletely carinulate, sub-coriaceous. 



China. I am indebted to Dr. Dorward of Madras, 

 for my specimens of this plant. I introduce it here 

 though not hitherto found in Coromandel under the 

 impression that we may have several species in the 

 salt soils near the coast, especially in the Tanjore 

 and TinnevcUy districts, and possibly this one among 

 them* The difference betAveen Obione and Atriplex 

 is very slight, so slight that I think it would have beeu 

 better to have followed Meyer in reducing it to the 

 rank of a section of the older genus. In Atriplex the 

 ends of the embryo are turned down, looking, if I 

 may so say, towards the earth, while in Obione the 

 seed seems to lie on its back with the ends of the 

 embryo looking towards the sky. They may be thus 

 represented : Atriplex o, Obione o ; in all other re- 

 spects they are the same. 



are roughened with thickened projecting points, in 

 those, quite even and foliaceous. 



1791. KocHiA Indica (R. W.), herbaceous or suf- 

 fruticose, erect, ramous ; branches ascending, and like 

 the ramuli, more or less woolly : leaves linear, lanceo- 

 late, sessile, villous on both sides : flowers axillary, one 

 or two together in each axil, calyx very woolly, wing 

 or disk exceeding the calyx, scariose, nearly glabrous : 

 seed black. 



Coimbatore, in salt soils, flowering October. 

 The flowers are sometimes male by abortion of the 

 ovary. 



1792. Su^BA MONoicA (Forsk.), stem shrubby, dif- 

 fuse, branchy; branches erect, spreading, glabrous: 

 leaves long, terete, attenuate at the base, stiff*, glab- 

 rous: flowers axillary, sessile, glomerate; male and 

 female mixed: dried fructiferous calyx, scarcely or 

 not at all inflated: seed lenticular or somewhat ob- 

 long, prominent at the point of the radicle, smooth 

 shining black. . 



Sea coast, Tuticorin. 



In his character of the seed Moquin has the words, 

 " Semine subrostellato margine acutiusculo." By the 

 term "rostcllato," I understand a beak at the apex, 

 which does not exist in my plant, but there is a 

 prominence at the base, that is, at the point of the 

 radicle: is it to that he alludes? or is this a differ- 

 ent species ? The male flowers in my specimens are 

 few, the female ones very numerous. 



1793. Chenopobika Indica (R- W.), shrubby, 



diffuse, procumbent, very branchy, glabrous: leaves 

 succulent, small, oblong, somewhat clavate, obtuse, 

 attenuated towards the base: flowers axiUary, glom- 

 erate : stigmas two or three : fructiferous calyx glo- 

 bose, not inflated, green : seed depressed, glabrous, 

 shining brown. 



B 



( 5 ) 



