Basella.'] CJienopociiacecs. 409 



with prominent leaf-scars, bark vertically cracked ; 1. very 

 numerous, sessile, \-\ in., linear, fleshy, blunt or apiculate, 

 bright green; spikes slender, very lax, clusters distant, each 

 in axil of a short leaf, bracts minute, entire. 



Tidal flats on the coast of the dry region ; common and gregarious. 

 Fl. December-March, August. 



Also in S. India, Arabia, Trop. Africa. 



Thvvaites erroneously quotes Wight, t. 1796, for this; hence in 

 Fl. B. Ind. his 5. indica is given under S. tiudiflora, but the C. P. 

 -specimens are the present species. This is erect, and often forms a 

 largish bush, and the leaves are bright green, which distinguishes it at 

 sight from .S. nudiflora^ with which it generally grows intermixed. 



2. S. maritima, Dinnort. Fl. Bel^. 22 (1827). 

 Trim. in. Journ. Bot. xxiii. 173. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 14. Wight, Ic. t. 1793 {Chenopodina indica). 



Annual (?), stems woody at base, erect, i|-2 ft, with 

 numerous very slender erect branches ; 1. numerous, |-f in., 

 narrowly linear, fleshy, subacute, spikes very slender, elongated, 

 lax, clusters small, few-flowered, globose, each in axil of a 

 very short leaf, bracts entire ; seeds very small. 



Sandy seacoast ; rather common ? Jaffna, abundant ; Kirinda, by the 

 salt-pans ; Kalpitiya. Fl. December, January. 



Also in India, N. and W. Asia, N. Africa, Europe, N. America. 



Our form has very slender, erect branches and much shorter floral 

 leaves than as figured in Wight's plate quoted. 



3. S. nudiflora, Moq. in Ann. Sc. Nat. xxiii. 316 (1831). 

 Vmiri, T. 



Salsola nudiflora., Willd., Moon Cat. 21. Thw. Enum. 246. C. P. 2261. 

 Fl. B. Ind. v. 14. Wight, Ic. t. 1796 {S. indica). 



Shrubby, stems prostrate, much branched, bark smooth, 

 yellowish, 1. numerous but quickly falling, f-f in., broadly 

 linear, at first flattish, afterwards semicylindrical, blunt, 

 glaucous-green ; spikes rather thick, clusters approximated or 

 crowded, dense, globose, many-flowered, only a few of the 

 lowest in the axil of a 1., bracts serrate or pectinate. 



Tidal flats on the coast in the dry region ; very common, gregarious. 

 Fl. December-March. 



Also in Peninsular India. 



This is usually more abundant than S. monoica, and the two species 

 occur mixed and cover miles of the flat coast on the N.E. of Ceylon. 

 This is a coarse-looking, prostrate or spreading plant pf a glaucous- 

 green, the full-grown leaves succulent and semicyhndrical. The clusters 

 are often confluent in fruit, forming close leafless spikes. 



5. SASZ:Z.I.A,* L. 

 Succulent perennial twining herb, 1. alt, fl. bisexual, in 



* The Malabar (Telegu) name as given by Rheede. 



