CLASS V. ORDER II.] CHENOPODITJM. 421 



roundisli two lobed anthers. Styles very short. Fruit closely invested 

 with a pale brown thin membrane in the centre of the spreading seg- 

 ments of the perianth. Seed shining black, its testa hard, crustaceous, 

 very finely dotted, a roundish kidney shape, the sides flattened. 



Habitat. — Waste places amongst rubbish ; in Cornwall, rare. 



Annual ; flowering in August and September. 



%* Leaves plane, toothed, angled, or lobed ; flotvers ivithout bracteas- 



5. C. Bonus Henri' cus, Linn. (Fig. 481.) Mercury Goosefoot, or 

 good King Henry. Leaves triangular, arrow-shaped, mostly entire; 

 spikes compound, terminal and axillary, erect, leafless ; perianth of 

 the fruit dry ; seed kidney-shaped, very finely dotted. 



English Botany, t. 1033. - English Flora, vol. ii. p. 10. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 142. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 2\Q.— Blitum, 

 Bonus Henricus, Meyer. 



Root fleshy, branched. Steju erect, from one to two feet high, 

 roundish, furrowed, smooth, or somewhat mealy, especially towards the 

 end of the branches, and the under side of the leaves simple or slightly 

 branched, leafy. Leaves on channeled footstalks, dilated a little at the 

 base with a membranous margin, large, dark green, pale on the under 

 side, triangular, with large spreading lobes at the base. Flowers 

 small, numerous, green, densely crowded in oblong clusters into a 

 compound spike, terminating the stem and branches, leafless, or with 

 one or two on the lower part, which are ovate-lanceolate, the terminal 

 spike mostly large, conical. Perianth of five spreading ovate-oblong 

 segments, green, with a pale thin membranous margin, terminating 

 near the point abruptly. Stamens on slender awl-shaped filaments, 

 about as long as the perianth. Anthers yellow, ovate, of two lobes. 

 Styles filiform, spreading, elongating after flowering. Fruit closely 

 invested with a very thin pale brown membrane, crowned by the per- 

 sistent styles, and surrounded at the base with the dried perianth. 

 Seed roundish, kidney-shaped, dark brown, very finely dotted, smooth, 

 shining. 



Habitat. — Waste places and road sides ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



The whole plant is insipid and inodorous. The young leaves are 

 used in some places instead of Spinach, for which they are a good 

 substitute ; formerly it was much more used than it is now. The 

 leaves are considered emollient, and are used to make a decoction for 

 enemas; and the country people account them a good application to 

 flesh wounds and sores, from the idea that they are drawing and 

 healing. 



6. C. ur'bicum, Linn. (Fig. 482.) upright Goosefoot. Leaves 

 shining, triangular at the base, slightly lengthened on the petiole, 

 toothed or sinuated ; spikes long, erect, almost simple, nearly leafless ; 

 seeds smooth, roundish. 



