SALSOLACEiE. 173 



axillary clusters or terminal spikes. Sl^aminate flowers bractless ; calyx 

 4-parted ; stamens 4 or 5, with short subulate filaments. Pistillate 

 flowers bibracteate, without perianth. Bracts membranous, strongly 

 obcompres.sed, joined into an orbicular sac with a small naked orifice at 

 apex, enlarged in fruit, net-veined and wing-marginetL Styles 2. Peri- 

 carp thin and membranous. Seed vertical, orbicular, with thin mem- 

 branous testa. Radicle inferior. 



1. G. spinosa, Moq. DC. Prodr. xiii'^. 119 (1849) ; Hook. Fl. ii. 127 

 (1840), under ('hrtiopodiuiii: G. jjolygoldides, H. & A. in Hook. Ic. iii. 271 

 (1840, but later in the year). Erect, branching and spinescent, 1 — 3 ft. 

 high : leaves glabrous, or when young mealy, somewhat fleshy, oblanceo- 

 late or spatulate to obovate, }4 — 1% ^^- long) obtuse or acute, narrowed 

 at base: staminate fl. in axillary clusters; pistillate terminal and in 

 simple or branching spikes : fruiting bracts 3 — 6 lines broad, sessile, 

 glabrous, thin, white or reddish, coherent below the pedicel of the ovary : 

 styles slender, at first exserted : seed nearly central, % line broad. — In 

 alkaline soils east of the Sierra both northward and southward. 



8. SALICORNIA, Tuumefort (Samphire). Herbs or shrubs with 

 cylindrical fleshy jointed and apparently leafless branches. Flowers 

 very simple, in threes at the joints of the spike-like ends of the branches ; 

 the lateral ones of each trio often only staminate. Perianth of 4 — 5 

 distinct or variously united sepals, at length sjjongy-thicked about the 

 fruit. Stamens 1 or 2. Styles 2 or 3, short. Pericarp membranaceous, 

 adherent to, or free from the vertical seed. 



* Branches and Jiouers opposite. — Salicoknia proper. 



1. S. ainbig-ua, Michx. Fl. i. 2 (1803) ; Moq. DC. Prodr. xiii'. 151 

 (1849), under Avlhvocneinum. Perennial, decumbent, often rooting at 

 the base, usually freely branching, % — 13^ ft. high : spikes not thicker 

 than the sterile parts of the branches, % — 2 in. long : perianth sac-like, 

 with an anterior opening (formed of 2 sepals united above and below), 

 enclosing the fruit : pericarp membranous, adherent to the obovate- 

 oblong seed, this I3 line long, pubescent. — Plentiful in salt marshes 

 everywhere along the seaboard. Some forms appear to be anniaal, and 

 the species as here received may be complex — embracing several. The 

 subject calls for sxjecial study and investigation. 



* * Branches alternate and flowers spirally arranged in the spikes. — 

 Genus Spirostachts, Wats. 



2. S. occidentalis, Greene. Wats. Bot. King Exp. 293 (1871), under 

 Hulostachys, and Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 125 (1874), under Spirostachys, 

 Shrubby, diffusely branched, the main stem erect, often 5 ft. high, with 

 a close and smooth gray bark : scale-like crowded and fleshy leaves 

 broadly triangular and acute, amplexicaul, often nearlv obsolete : fl. 



