AMARANTHACEAE. 121 



3. D. calif omica (Wats.) Heller. Glabrous or pubescent; stems 

 woody at base, about 2 dm. high; branches decumbent, 6-12 dm. 

 long, woody below, bearing ascending or erect, very leafy branchlets 

 15-30 cm. long; leaves broadly linear, acute, 10-14 mm. long; 

 flowers 4 mm. broad, 1-3 in the axils; perianth deeply cleft; seed 

 vertical, nearly 2 mm. broad, faintly reticulated. (S. californica 

 Wats.) 



Frequent in saline places along the coast. 



4. D. depressa (Pursh) Britton. Annual, branched from the 

 base and usually above, 2-5 dm. high; branches decumbent or ascend- 

 ing, usually very leafy; leaves narrowly linear, 2-3 cm. long, broadest 

 at or near the base, the upper often narrowly lanceolate; sepals 

 acute, 1 or more of them strongly keeled in fruit; seed about 1 mm. 

 broad, dull, minutely reticulated. 



Frequent in low alkaline places toward the coast. Hyde Park; 

 Mesmer. 



9. SALSOLA L. 



Annual or perennial much-branched herbs, with 

 prickly-pointed leaves and sessile perfect 2-bracteolate 

 flowers, solitary in the axils or sometimes several to- 

 gether. Calyx 5-parted, its segments appendaged by a 

 broad membranous horizontal wing in fruit and enclos- 

 ing the utricle. Stamens 5. Ovary depressed; styles 2. 

 Utricle flattened, its seed horizontal; embryo coiled into 

 a conic spiral. 



1. S. tragus L. Annual, more or less scabrous-pubescent, bushy- 

 branched, the branches slender, 2-6 dm, high; leaves and outer 

 bracts usually red at maturity, the former not noticeably swollen at 

 base, linear, somewhat fleshy; calyx membranous, conspicuously 

 veiny, its wings longer than the ascending lobe. 



Occasional along roadsides. Commonly called Russian thistle. 



Family 26. AMARANTHACEAE. 



Amaranth Family. 



Ours herbs with alternate or opposite, simple mostly 

 entire leaves. Flowers small, usually green, perfect or 

 unisexual, bracteolate, variously clustered, usually in 

 terminal spikes or axillary heads. Calyx herbaceous 

 or membranous, 2-5-parted, the segments distinct or 

 more or less united. Corolla none. Stamens 1-5, 

 mostly opposite the calyx-lobes, hypogynous; anthers 

 1-2-celled. Ovary superior, 1-celled, with 2-3 stigmas. 



