SALSOLACE^. 165 



membranous, closely investing the lenticular horizontal or vertical seed. 

 Embryo annular, or curved around a copious albumen. 



* Aiiiiunl, more or less mealy, not 'pubescent; seed horizontal; embryo 

 annular. — Chenopodium proper. 

 -I— Pericarp closely persistent upon the seed. 



1. C. ALBUM, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 219 (1753). Erect, stoutish, more or less 

 paniculately branching, 1 — 4 ft. high ; herbage pale green or whitish 

 with a mealy indument : leaves petiolate, ascending, rhombic-ovate, 

 obtuse, acute or cuneate at base, sinuate-dentate or subentire, 1 - 2 in. 

 long, whiter beneath than above : flowers densely clustered in close 

 spikes, these forming a rather strict leafless panicle : sepals of fruiting 

 calyx carinate, completely covering the fruit : seed smooth, shining, 

 acutely margined. — A very common weed of fields, gardens and waste 

 places ; native of Europe. June -Oct. 



2. 0. viKiDE, Linn. 1. c. (1753) : C. concatenatum, Thuill. Fl. Par. 125 

 (1790) : C. alburn, var. viride, Moq. DO. Prodr. xiii'^. 71 (1819). Size and 

 general habit of the preceding, but herbage green throughout and 

 scarcely mealy: branches and leaves more spreading: fl. and fr. scattered 

 in loose spreading spikes. — Rather frequent in cultivated grounds among 

 the foothills of the Sierra ; from Europe like the last. 



3. 0. MUBALE, Linn. 1. c. Stoutish and rather low, often with many 

 decumbent or ascending branches from the base ; herbage dark green, 

 rather succulent, the growing parts very mealy : leaves petiolate, ascend- 

 ing, ovate-rhomboid, unequally and sharply toothed : fl. in rather dense 

 axillary nearly leafless cymes : fruiting calyx nearly closed, the sepals 

 slightly carinate : seed opaque, punctate-rugose, sharply margined. — A 

 more common weed than either of the preceding, preferring rich soil, but 

 thriving everywhere ; very hardy, often flowering and fruiting through- 

 out even our whole winter season. 



4. C VuiiVARiA, Linn. 1. c. 220. Rather slender and difl"use, 1 ft. high 

 or more ; herbage somewhat pale and mealy, very ill-scented : leaves 

 petiolate, ascending, obtuse or acutish, entire, 1 in. long : fl. in dense 

 leafless spicate clusters : fruiting calyx closed, not carinate : seed shin- 

 ing but delicately puncticulate, rather sharply margined. — Abundantly 

 naturalized in the vicinity of Sacramento, though not otherwise known 

 within the State. 



H— -fr- Pericarp separating readily from the seed. 



5. C. Fremoiiti, Wats. Bot. King Exp. 287 (1871). Erect, slender, 

 J/g —2 ft. high, whitish-mealy : leaves broadly triangular-hastate, .^4 — 1 

 in. long, obtuse or abruptly acute, truncate or cuneate at base, the upper 

 narrower and from oblong to linear-lanceolate : fl. in small clusters upon 

 slender opeu-panicled branchlets: sepals strongly carinate: seed smooth 



