CHENOPODIACEAE. 



117 



A. coulteri. 

 A. expansa. 



Annuals, monoecious. 



Herbage white-mealy, succulent; bracts dis- 

 tinct or nearly so. 1. A. patula. 

 Herbage whitish-scurfy, not succulent; 

 bracts more or less united. 

 Staminate and pistillate flowers inter- 

 mingled in axillary clusters. 2. A. microcarpa. 

 Staminate flowers in naked terminal 

 spikes, the pistillate in axillary 

 clusters. 

 Plants erect or bushy, mostly 6-10 

 dm. high. 

 Fruiting bracts 2 mm. long. 3. 

 Fruiting bracts 5-6 mm, broad. 4. 

 Plants decumbent; bracts 4 mm. 



broad. 5. A. watsoni. 



Perennials. 



Monoecious herbaceous perennials. 

 Fruiting bracts not red and fleshy. 



Fruiting bracts 2 mm. long in fruit, 



laciniately toothed; diffuse plants. 6. A. serenana. 

 Fruiting bracts entire, 3-4 mm. long; 

 prostrate plants. 

 Leaves thin, white-mealy; bracts 



not united. 7. A. calif ornica. 



Leaves thick, densely white-scurfy; 



bracts united. 8. A. leucophylla. 



Fruiting bracts fleshy and red; plants 



prostrate. 9. A. semihaccata. 



Dioecious shrubs. 



Fruiting bracts without lateral wings. 10. A. hreweri. 



Fruiting bracts with 4 conspicuous lateral 



wings. 11. A. canescens. 



1. A. patula L. Stems stout and succulent, erect, 2-6 dm. high, 

 with few ascending branches, herbage green, only the growing 

 parts somewhat mealy; leaves lanceolate or linear, entire or coarsely 

 toothed, sometimes hastate at base; inflorescence more or less leafy 

 below, the clusters dense in spikes or panicles; bracts rhombic-ovate, 

 thick and subcoriaceous, 8-12 mm. long, entire or toothed, some- 

 times muricate. 



Frequent in saline places, especially toward the coast. 



2, A. microcarpa Dietrich. Mlnutel}^ and somewhat hoary 

 puberulent, the numerous reddish branches nearly glabrous; stems 

 15-30 cm. long, spreading and decumbent; leaves oblong or oblong- 

 ovate, 6-10 mm. long, acute at each end, sessile; flowers in small 

 axillary clusters, the terminal ones usually more staminate; fruiting 

 bracts round-obovate, usually less than 2 mm. broad, the roundish 

 summit narrowly bordered with 3-7 small herbaceous teeth, sides 

 frequently somewhat muricate or 1-nerved; seed 0.5 mm. broad. 



Rather common in saline places toward the coast. 



