168 SALSOLACE^. 



perianth reticulate-nerved ; segments ovate, obtusish : pericarp whitish 

 and with scattered glandular dots: seed siibrostellate, obtusely margined, 

 dark brown, shining and minutely punctate-rugose. — Native of South 

 America ; credited to Plumas Co., Mrs. Ames, as adventive or naturalized. 



3. MONOLEPIS, Schrader. Annuals, with the habit and foliage 

 of Chenopodium, but the perianth consisting of a single scale-like or 

 bract-like sepal (or this to be regarded as a mei'e bract subtending an 

 achlamydeous flower). Stamen 1. Styles 2, filiform. Pericarp mem- 

 branous, persistent upon the vertical compressed seed. Embryo annular; 

 albumen copious. — In aspect wholly like Clienopodiurn, to which the 

 genus may as well be united as Mungea to Amarantus. 



1. M. Nuttalliaiia, Greene. Roem. & Schult. Mant. i. 65 (1822), under 

 Blilum: M. chenopodioides, Moq. in DO. Prodr. xiii. 85 (1849). BlUum 

 chenopodioides ( fj'i^utt (1818), not Linn. Branches many, decumbent 

 or almost prostrate, l£^-l ft. long ; herbage deep green, the growing 

 parts mealy : leaves lanceolate-hastate, 14^1 in. long, entire or remotely 

 sinuate-dentate, acute or obtxtse, cuneate at base, the upper floral sub- 

 sessile : flower-clusters axillary, dense, sometimes reddish : sepal 

 foliaceous and fleshy, oblanceolate or spatulate, often exceeding the 

 fruit : pericarp somewhat fleshy, becoming dry and favose-pitted, 

 adherent : seed lenticular or reniform, % line broad.^Alkaline soils 

 along the eastern base of the Sierra. 



2. M. spathulata, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 389 (1868). Smaller 

 and more slender than the last, more diffuse and leafy, but leaves smaller, 

 narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate, entii-e, i^' in. long : sepal rarely 

 exceeding the fruit : pericarp minutely papillose, separating from the 

 minute shining seed. — A rare species of the more volcanic districts of 

 the Sierra Nevada ; Mono Lake, and in Sierra Co. 



4. BETA, Columna (Beet). Rather coarse glabrous bieiyiials, with 

 alternate leaves, the radical large and long-petioled, the floral reduced 

 and sessile. Flowers fascicled in the axils and spicate-congested along 

 the paniculate branches, connate at base, perfect. Sepals 5, inserted on 

 the margin of a concave receptacle, imbricate. Stamens 5, opposite the 

 sepals, the filaments subulate. Ovary partly inferior and encircled by a 

 disk-like margin of the receptacle : style short, the 2 or 3 branches 

 stigmatose on the inside. Fruit partly adnate to the receptacle, and 

 enclosed by the thicked and somewhat fleshy sepals. 



1. B. vuLGAKis, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 222 (1753). Stout, 2-4 ft. high : 

 radical leaves often 1 ft. long including the stout petiole, commonly with 

 prominent nerves and a more or less undulate margin, the outline oblong 



