DICOTYLEDONS. 65 



grants from tropical countries^ and also the common garden 

 beet {Beta vulgaris), which is a native of Europe. 



I. CHENOPODIUM. 



Annual or perennial herbs; stems erect or diffuse; leaves 

 alternate, usually white-mealy ; flowers small, greenish, in 

 panicled spikes ; calyx 3-5-parted, the lobes often slightly 

 fleshy and keeled ; stamens 5, filaments filiform ; styles 2-3, 

 distinct or united at the base ; seed lenticular. 



1. C. ALBUM L. PiGWEKD. Annual; stem erect, branching;, 

 striate or furrowed, 1-5 ft. tall; leaves rhombic-ovate, acute at tlie 

 base, irregularly toothed, or tlie upper becoming narrower and entire, 

 more or less coated with white powder ; petiole nearly as long as 

 tlie blade; flowers in small, panicled spikes; calyx .Vangled, sepals 

 strongly keeled ; seed black and shining. June-September. A com- 

 mon weed in cultivated ground. 



2. C. ANTUKLMiNTicu-M L. WouMSKKD, Perennial ; steui stout, 

 erect, much branched, 2-4 ft. tall ; leaves oblong or lanceolate, acute 

 at each end, coarsely and sharply toothed or incised, u}>}>er leaves 

 smaller; flowers very numerous, in linear, panicled si)ikes which are 

 often leaf y-bracted ; calyx not keeled; seeds with obtuse margins, 

 smooth and shiny ; whole plant very aromatic-fragrant. July-Sei>- 

 tend)er. Tn waste places. 



II. SALICORNIA. 



Herbs, annual or perennial ; stems fleshy, glabrous, 

 l)raiK',hes op})Osite, jointed; leaves reduced to snnill, opposite 

 scales; flowers ])eri'ect, 3-G together, sunken into the upper 

 joints of the stem, forming termiiuil spikes ; calyx thin, 

 ix'coming si)ongy in fruit ; stamens 1-2 ; styles or stigmas 2 ; 

 fruit a utricle enclosed in the spongy calyx ; whole plant 

 salty to the taste. 



1. S. AMHKJiA Michx. (iF.Asswonr. I't'n'nni;il ; stem sliglitly 

 shrnliby at the liasc thf hranchrs ascrndinnor erect, nearly simple, 

 joints truncate, <lilated alxive, sliglitly 'J-toot lied ; Irnitiiig spikes 

 cylindrical or uhtnse, h-\\ in. long, the terminal oix^ sessile, the 

 lateral pedmicled. July-Septemher. Salt marshes along the coast. 



