CLASS V. ORDER U.] BETA. 427 



acute segments, green, with a pale tliiu nieml)ianons margin. Statnens 

 shorter than the perianth, with small oblong yellow cmlhcrs. Fruit 

 roundish, compressed, enclosed in the dried perianth. Seed roundish, 

 kidney-shaped, black, shining, with numerous small irregular deep 

 pitted dots. 



Habitat. — Waste places, dunghills, &c. ; not common. About 

 London and Yarmouth. 



Annual ; flowering in August and Septembsr. 



Readily distinguished from C album, by its dotted seeds, to which 

 it is nearly allied in the shape of its leaves, and the whole habit of the 

 plant. 



GENUS XC. BE'TA.— Linn. Beet. 



Nat. Ord. Chenopo'de^. Vent. 



Gen. Char. Perianth single, half inferior, five-cleft, persistent 

 Stamens inserted into the fleshy top of the germen. /'Vyj^kidney- 

 .shaped, enveloped in the capsular base of the calyx. Seed with a 

 coriaceous covering. Floicers two or three, united at the base.— 

 Name from the Celtic word bett, according to Theis, which means 

 red ; others suppose it to come from the Greek word eutAov, 

 bietola. 

 \. B. mariCima, Linn. (Fig. 492) Sea Beet. Stem procumbent at 

 at the base; flowers sessile, solitary, or in pairs in the axis of the leaves 

 of the spike ; segments of the calyx entire ; leaves ovate, obtuse. 



English Botany, t. 285. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 17. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 143. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 216. 



Root large, thick, tapering, fleshy, black externally, white within. 

 Stem procumbent at the base, from one to two feet high, angular, 

 furrowed, green, with reddish longitudinal lines, branched and leafy. 

 Leaves of a dark green, succulent, entire, with a waved margin, stout 

 mid-rib, and branched veins, those arising from the root and lower 

 part of the stem large, ovate, obtuse, spreading, on channeled foot- 

 stalks, dilated at the base, those of the stem nearly sessile, alternate, 

 waved, and somewhat lanceolate. Floirers small, greenish, sessile, 

 one or two together in the axis of the small leaves oi the spikes, which 

 are long, numerous, terminal and lateral. Perianth single, of five 

 spreading obtuse segments, inserted about the middle of the germen. 

 Stamens five, on short awl-shaped filaments, about as long as the 

 perianth, inserted into the fleshy ring surrounding the germen. 

 Anthers ovate, of two cells, yellow. Styles two, occasionally three, 

 very short. Fruit kidney-shaped, imbedded in the fleshy capsular 

 base of the calyx. .S'eer? horizontal, covered with a leathery coat, two 



VOL. I. * 3 K 



