1720 



A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



and shaded red, yellow and white. Each flower is really the central flower 

 of a three-flowered cyme of which the two lateral members are abortive. 

 Around the base of the flower is a false calyx which is really the five partite 

 involucre of the cyme. 



Chenopodiaceae 



The plants belonging to this family are widely distributed in maritime 

 regions, occurring particularly on salt marshes, muddy foreshores and 

 shingle beaches. Many of them are halophytes. Some of the species are 

 the wild prototypes of commonly cultivated plants, some of which are 

 used for food. Among the common British representatives we may mention 

 Beta maritima {Sea Beet), Salicornia stricta (Glasswort or Marsh Samphire), 

 Salsola kali (Prickly Glasswort), Siiaeda maritima (Sea Elite), Atriplex 

 portulacoides (Orache) and various species of Chenopodiiim (Goosefoot). 



From the wild Beet have been cultivated the Garden Beet, the Sugar 

 Beet and the Mangold Wurzel. Chenopodiiim bonus-henriciis (All Good or 



Fig. 1595. — Atriplex hastatn. Flowering shoots. 



