nO 



CHENOPODIA CE^. 



257 



Observe the stamens opposite to the segments of the 

 perianth (strictly, they are monadelphous, but the amount 

 of cohesion is so shght as to be scarcely perceptible) : 

 the one-celled ovary, horizontally flattened ; in the female 

 flowers of the alhed, weedy, polygamous genus Atriplex, 

 the ovary is vertically compressed. 



A* widely-spread Family, occurring generally as weeds in 

 waste places on the sea-shore, or in saline desert regions. 

 Several pecuhar genera abound in the Caspian and Aral 

 region of Western Asia. 



Several useful pot-herbs belong to the Family. The 

 Type-species is thus employed in India. Beet {Beta) 

 yields in cultivation a valuable tap-root: one variety of 

 which. Mangold Wurzel, is grown for cattle in Europe. 

 Another variety contains much saccharine juice, and is 

 used in the manufacture of sugar on the continent of 

 Europe. Atriplex hoftejisis is used as a pot-herb in the 

 Deccan, as are species of Basella in India generally. 

 The latter differs from the Goosefoots proper in its 

 climbing habit and in the perianth, which at length be- 

 comes fleshy, forming a pseudo-pericarp, or baccate fruit. 

 The perianth of Basella is in two series, an outer of two 

 segments, an inner of five. 



