In saline or alkaline soils, on wet sandbars at edge of bays, w. Minn, and 

 Sask., w. to Mont, and Wash., s. to Okla., Neb., Mo., Tex., Ariz, and Calif.; 

 July-Oct. 



Var. erecta Wats. Stems simple or branched at the base, strictly erect, 15-45 

 cm. tall, glabrous, often glaucous; leaves 2-3 cm. long, acute; flowering branch- 

 lets dense, their short leaves ovate-acuminate; calyx lobes somewhat unequal, with 

 a conspicuous horizontal wing on the back. 



Alkaline soils, coastal Calif, e. to the Rocky Mts. and Tex. 



2. Suaeda linearis (Ell.) Moq. Fig. 423. 



Annual herb; stems glabrous, erect or ascending, 2-9 dm. tall, profusely 

 branched; leaves deep-green, not glaucous, narrowly linear, plano-convex, nearly 

 terete, the primary ones to 5 cm. long, those of the branches progressively 

 shorter; spikes often elongate, usually dense; bracts 4-7 mm. long; perianth at 

 maturity about 2 mm. wide, deeply cleft, the lower 4 or 2 perianth segments 

 round on the back, the upper 1 or 3 distinctly cucullate; seed horizontal, 1-1.5 

 mm. wide, smooth, shining and black. 



Salt marshes, sandy coasts. Coastal Plain from Me. to Fla., w. to Tex.; W.I. 

 and Bah. I.; Aug.-Oct. 



3. Suaeda mexicana (Standi.) Standi. 



Annual herb; stems glabrous, pale-green, 3-12 dm. tall, mostly branched at the 

 base, the numerous branches ascending or nearly erect and elongate; leaves 

 numerous but not crowded, linear, the lower ones 12-25 mm. long and 1.2 mm. 

 broad, acuminate or attenuate, those of the inflorescence shorter; inflorescence 

 paniculately branched, the branches erect; flowers crowded in the axils and form- 

 ing spikes 4-5 mm. thick; perianth deeply cleft, the lobes "rounded, becoming 

 enlarged, strongly cucullate in age, the fruiting perianth 3 mm. broad; stamens 

 exserted; seed 0.8 mm. in diameter, horizontal, shining, dark brownish-red. 



A halophytic gypsophile, often in wet areas, w. Tex. to S.L.P. 



4. Suaeda Torreyana Wats. Quelite salado. 



Perennial shrub; stems erect, mostly glabrous, green, woody at the base, the 

 herbaceous branches usually slender, ascending, sparsely leafy, 6-10 dm. tall; 

 leaves green, subterete or distinctly flattened, linear to linear-spatulate, 1-3 (rarely 

 to 4) cm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide, acute or slightly acuminate, those of the inflor- 

 escence much-reduced to 2-5 mm. long and abruptly mucronate or obtuse; flowers 

 globose, 1 to 5 in each axil, about 1 mm. broad at anthesis, the branches of the 

 inflorescence slender but not flexuous; perianth deeply cleft, the lobes green, 

 obtuse, closely incurved, rounded on the back and obtuse; utricle obovoid- 

 lenticular, enclosed by the perianth lobes; seed vertical or horizontal, 1-1.5 mm. 

 broad, dark-brown to black, shining, minutely tuberculate. 



Salt marshes and alkaline soils, in mud of drying ponds, in w. Tex., N.M. 

 (rather general) and Ariz. (Apache to Mohave, s. to Cochise, Pima and Yuma 

 COS.), Apr.-Oct.; e. Ore. and Wyo. to Calif., s. through Nev. to Tex. and w. 

 N.M. and Ariz. 



5. Suaeda nigrescens I. M. Johnst. var. glabra I. M. Johnst. 



Perennial shrub; stems 3-6 dm. tall, ascending, erect or decumbent, the branches 

 all glabrous and often glaucous, the young branches rarely very sparsely pilose and 

 pale; leaves succulent, more or less glaucous, glabrous, 3-4 mm. long and roundish; 

 flowers in glomerules at the base of the upper leaves, barely conspicuous, sub- 

 spicate; fruiting perianth glabrous, turbinate. 1.5-2 mm. in diameter; seed black, 

 shining, obliquely ovoid, erect or horizontal, about 1 mm. long. 



Irrigation ditches, saline plains and salt flats, N.M., Tex. and Mex. 



847 



