PENTANDRIA-DIGYNIA. Salsola. 17 



calyx lower than the receptacle of the flower, orbicular, 

 depressed. Styles 2, sometimes 3, very short. Stigmas 

 simple, acute. Seed solitary, naked, horizontal, curved, 

 imbedded in the fleshy base of the calyx, the segments 

 closing over it. 

 Root fleshy. Herb smooth, rather succulent, branched, 

 spreading. Fl. aggregate; their segments, as well as the 

 stam. and styles^ liable to be much multiplied by culture. 



1. B. marithna. Sea Beet. 



Stems procumbent. Flowers in pairs. Segments of the 

 calyx entire at the keel. 



B. maritima. Linn. Sp. PI. 322. Willd. v. I. 1309. Fl. Br. 279. 

 Engl.Bot. V.4. t.285. Fl. Grcec. v. 3. 49. t.254. Hook. Scot.84. 

 Fl.Dan. t. 1571. 



B. sylvestiis maritima. Rail Syn. 157. 



B. sylvestris spontanea marina. Lob. Obs. 125. 



Sea Beet. Pet. H. Brit. t. 8./. 9. 



On the sea shore, in a muddy soil. 



Perennial. .August. 



Root thick and fleshy, black externally, white within. Sife??!.? pros- 

 trate, angular and furrowed, alternately branched, leafy, from 1 

 to 2 feet long, often reddish. Leaves deep green, flaccid, slightly 

 succulent, stalked, ovate, veiny, wavy at the edges ; radical ones 

 much the largest, 3 or 4 inches long ; those of the stem verti- 

 cal, in consequence of its position. Fl. green, usually in pairs, 

 rarely solitary, sessile, in the bosoms of the leaves, of which the 

 uppermost are diminished almost to bracteas. Keel of the cabjx 

 entire, by which it difters, according to Linnseus, from B. vul- 

 garis. 



131. SALSOLA. Saltwort. 



Linn. Gen. 122. Juss. 85. Fl.Br.279. Lam.t.lSl. Gcertn. t.7o. 

 Kali. Tourn. t. 1 28. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 129. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, in 5 deep, rounded, permanent seg- 

 ments. Cor. none. Filajn. awl-shaped, opposite to the 

 segments of the calyx, and about as long. A?ith. roundish, 

 2-lobed. Germeji globose. Styles 2 or 3, combined at 

 the base. Stigmas recurved. Caps, imbedded in the 

 fleshy base of the calyx, of 1 cell, horny, not bursting. 

 Seed solitary, turbinate, large, with a spiral, horizontal, 

 very large emhryo, 



VOL. II. c 



