Saxsoxa.] CHENOPODIACE. 25 
linear or ellipsoid, obtuse, narrowed to the base, floral leaves shorter. 
Flowers 2-sexual, axillary, solitary or 2 or 3 together, the upper ones 
forming slender leafy spikes ; bracteoles membranous, shorter than 
the perianth, ovate, acute, entire or denticulate. Perianth (in fruit) 
subglobose, about 34 in. long ; segments thick, oblong, concave, 
obtuse, incurved. Utricle obovoid ; stigmas 3, short, spreading. 
Seed erect, obliquely ovoid, beaked, black and shining when ripe. 
A common plant in saline soils, and often found as a gregarious bush 
in the usar tracts of the Upper Gangetic Plain and in Merwara. It 
flowers during the cold season. DustTriB.: Plains of Punjab and 
Sind, also in Baluchistan, extending to Africa and the Mediterranean 
region. ‘The plant is much eaten by camels, and a crude form of 
barilla is prepared from it in Sind. 
2. S. maritima, Dumort. Fl. Belg. 22 ; F. B. I. v, 14; Watt £. D.; 
Comm. Prod. Ind. 114 ; Frain Beng. Pl. 878 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. i, 
506. Salsola indica, Willd. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ti, 62.—Vern. Lani, 
khari-lani. 
An erect annual herb or occasionally an undershrub, glaucous-green, 
Stems 13-2 ft. high, with many slender erect branches. Leaves many, 
8-1 in. long, fleshy, semiterete, linear or filiform, subacute, floral 
leaves very small. Flowers in small subglobose clusters forming 
slender lax elongate spikes ; bracteoles membranous, ovate, entire. 
Perianth minute ; segments rounded, covering the utricle. Stigmas 
2, slender. Seed horizontal, obliquely ovoid or suborbicular, black 
and shining. 
In the neighbourhood of Delhi (C. B. Clarke), also on the usar tracts in 
the Upper Gangetic Plain (Duthie). Flowers during the hot season. 
Distris.: Sea-coast of Bengal and Bombay and in S. India and 
Ceylon, extending to Siam, N. and W. Asia, N. Africa, Europe and 
N. America. The leaves, which are quite wholesome, are eaten by 
the poorer classes in times of scarcity. . oF 
’ 
4. SALSOLA, Linn. ; F]. Brit. Ind. v, 17. 
Herbs or shrubs, branches not jointed. Leaves usually alternate, 
sessile and often amplexicaul, sémetimes with pungent tips, 
Flowers small, axillary, solitary or fascicled, bracteoles 2. Perianth 
5 (rarely 4) -partite ; segments concaye, accrescent in fruit, usually 
furnished with a broad scarious horizontal wing above the middle 
and completely embracing the utricle. Stamens 5 or fewer, usually 
