ig8 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Chenopodium rubrum. — In Fig. 55 note the triang- 

 ular leaves with irregular teeth, and the long, panicled 

 spike, with terminal and axillary flowers. 



Orache {A triplex hastata). 



Whilst the Goosefoots as a whole are light green 

 or yellow in colour the Oraches are much darker 

 green. The perianth in this case also is enlarged in 

 fruit. The first Latin name is derived from two 

 Greek words which imply not nutritious, whereas 

 the Goosefoots are valuable as salads or potherbs. 



Considered in the aggregate sense this Orache is 

 found in all parts of the British Isles. In the North 

 of England it ascends to nearly 1500 ft. Formerly 

 this and other species were included in a compre- 

 hensive species — A. patula — but are now kept 

 distinct, differing as regards the leaves, flower, and 

 fruit. 



The habitat is cultivated ground, waste places, 

 allotments, gardens, cornfields, stackyards, etc. The 

 plant is also, as a halophyte, found in the sand-dune 

 formation in the Sea Couch-grass association, and 

 also occurs on the coast as a strand-plant, nearer 

 the shore. 



In habit the one under consideration is erect or 

 prostrate or ascending. The plant is mealy and dark 

 green. The radical leaves are opposite, broadly tri- 

 angular, or spear-shaped (hence hastata), with irregu- 

 lar, coarse teeth, with spreading horizontal barbs^ 



