SALSOLACE^. 171 



bracts compressed, the sides usually unappendaged and strongly reticu- 

 late. — Same range as A. argentea, though reported on our side of the 

 Sierra, in Santa Barbara Co., and therefore to be expected farther north. 



8. A. corouata, Wats. 1. c. 114. Stout, erect, 1—2 ft. high, branching 

 and leafy, mealy : leaves lanceolate, entire, % — 1 in- long, acute or 

 acuminate, attenuate to a short petiole or sessile : flower clusters 

 axillary, androgynous ; fruiting bracts strongly compressed, orbicular, 

 2 lines broad, united, surrounded by an herbaceous gash-toothed margin 

 as broad as the body, the sides now and then somewhat muricate : seed 

 ^4 line broad. — Plains of the lower San Joaquin and southward. 



9. A. bracteosa, Wats. 1. c. 115 ; Dur. & Hilg. Pac. R. Eep. v. 13. t. 

 14 (1855), under Ohione. Stout, branched from the base, 2 — 3 ft. high, 

 mealy : leaves thin, sessile, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, % — 1 io- long, 

 sinuate-dentate or the uppermost entire : staminate fl. in dense globose 

 clusters in a naked terminal simple or branching spike ; calyx deeply 

 5-cleft : fruiting bracts in small axillary clusters, cuneate-orbicular, 

 1 — 132 lines broad, the upper rounded margin irregularly toothed ; sides 

 smooth or muricate : seed less than }.2 line broad. — From the plains of 

 Tulare Co. southward. 



10. A. Coiilteri, Dietr. Syn. v. 537 (1852) ; Moq. DC. Prodr. xiiil 113 

 (1849), under Ohione. Erect, 1 — 2 ft. high, slender, virgate, rigid, 

 branched and mealy : leaves lanceolate, attenuate at each end, mucronu- 

 late, entire, rather thick, ig in. long, 1 line broad or less : fruiting bracts 

 in axillary clusters, cuneate-orbicular, 1 line broad, the rounded margin 

 reaching nearly to the base, and with short blunt teeth : seed % line 

 broad. — A rare and long lost species, collected only by Coulter, now 

 sixty years since, perhaps near Monterey ; the species possibly belonging 

 to the shrubby group. 



•)— -1— Liaecious shrubby species (except a. 11). 



11. A. Californica, Moq. DC. 1. c. 98 (1849). Branches many, slender 

 and wiry, prostrate, from a short and thick oblong or fusiform perennial 

 root ; herbage densely mealy : leaves ovate- to linear-lanceolate, 3—8 

 lines long, entire, acute, the lowest opposite : flower-clusters all axillary, 

 the upper ones more staminate, the calyx of these deeply 4-cleft : fruiting 

 bracts rhombic-ovate, membranous, distinct, 1% lines long, somewhat 

 convex : seed y^ line broad. — On the seacoast, and along* the edges of 

 salt marshes, from near San Francisco and Alameda, southward. The 

 rather succulent roots are yellow, and have the flavor of beets. 



12. A. leiitiformis, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 118 (1874) ; Torr. Sitgr. 

 Rep. 169. t. 14 (1853), under Ohione. Diffusely branched, 2—12 ft. high, 

 the branches terete, the branchlets divaricate, rigid and somewhat 



