subglobose or cylindric, on peduncles 2-7 cm. long, glabrous or pubescent in lines; 

 flowers sessile in the bractlets, with a sweet resinous odor; bracts one fourth as 

 long as the tepals, broadly ovate, glabrous; perianth silvery-white; tepals at least 

 4, glabrous, 5-6 mm. long, nearly equal, obscurely 4-veined, lanceolate to ovate- 

 oblong, acute, firm, serrulate near the apex; filaments linear-subulate; staminodia 

 narrow, usually entire, exceeding the anthers, half as long as the tepals, ligulate, 

 lacerate at the apex; style elongate, the stigma entire. Achyranthes philoxeroides 

 (Mart.) Standi. 



In waste places, in ponds, streams, along some rivers, becoming a noxious weed, 

 in s.e. Tex.; Mar. -Aug.; on Coastal Plain, N.C. to Fla., w. to La. and Tex., s. 

 throughout C.A. to S.A.. where it is nat. from Col. to Braz. and Arg. 



This plant, primarily in conjunction with the highly productive water-hyacinth 

 (Eichhornia crassipes) and several aquatic species of Ludwigia, is rapidly clogging 

 the streams, canals, ponds and other such places in coastal Texas. 



5. Philoxeras R. Br. 



About 10 species, mostly in coastal regions of the tropics. 



1. Philoxerus vermicularis (L.) R. Br. Silverhead. 



Perennial or annual herb, somewhat succulent; stems prostrate, branched, 1-18 

 dm. long, the branches prostrate or ascending to sometimes 1-5 dm. tall; leaves 

 opposite, thick and fleshy, subterete, linear to linear-oblong or oblong to clavate, 

 15-55 mm. long, 2-12 mm. broad, acutish or blunt at the apex, narrowed to the 

 sessile base, villous in the axils of the leaves, otherwise glabrous; spikes or heads 

 solitary, subglobose to cylindric, densely many-flowered, bright-white, 13 mm. 

 long, 5-11 mm. thick, obtuse, the rachis lanate; flowers perfect, white; bracts 

 broadly ovate, chartaceous, 1 -nerved, acute or obtuse; bractlets ovate-oblong, 

 slightly shorter than the tepals, acute, glabrous; perianth compressed, thickened 

 at the base, 5-parted, the segments obtuse; tepals 3.5-4 mm. long, obtuse, the 

 outer ones oblong and glabrous, the inner lanceolate and usually lanate near the 

 base; stamens 5, the filaments subulate and connate below, the oblong anthers 

 2-celled; utricle compressed, broadly ovoid, coriaceous, indehiscent; seed orbicular, 

 0.8-1 mm. broad, dark-brown, lustrous. 



Saline soils and dunes along coasts, wet sands at edge of water and on bars, in 

 the Tex. Rio Grande Plains and Gulf Coast, summer-fall; Fla. to Tex., s. through 

 Mex. to Pan.; Col. to Braz.; W.I.; Virg. I.; w. coast of trop. Afr. 



Fam. 54. Bataceae Meisn. Saltwort Family 



Maritime somewhat woody-succulent dioecious plants; leaves opposite, exstipu- 

 late, fleshy, semiterete, linear to clavate, smooth and glabrous, entire, with a small 

 basal loose flange; flowers small, crowded in axillary sessile or short-peduncled 

 conelike spikes; staminate spikes with persistent imbricate scales each subtending 

 a flower; calyx cup-shaped, 2-lobed; corolla absent; stamens 4 or 5, inserted at 

 base of calyx; filaments thick, alternating with staminodia; pistillate inflorescence 

 conelike, 4- to 12-flowered, the scales deciduous, the flowers each consisting of 

 merely a 4-celled ovary with a sessile stigma; ovule 1 in each cell; fruit a fleshy 

 cone. 



A monotypic family. Also spelled Batidaceae. 



1. Batis L. 



Characters of the family. Monotypic. A second species of dubious merit has 

 been described recently from the Old World. 



868 



