1. Chenopodium.] 109. CHENOPODIACE.E. 



Champaran ! Purneah, Wall (No. 6952 d) ! A weed of cultivation in Manbhum, 

 Camp. ! Also seen in gardens m Singbhum, but it is also a European weed and 

 may possibly be imported with vegetable seeds. Fl,, Fr. March. Annual. 



2. C. ambrosioides, L. Mexican Tea. 



An erect pyramidal herb 2-4 ft. high with sulcate gland-hairy and 

 minutely cobwebby pubescent stems. Whole plant with a peculiar 

 rather strong subaromatic semi-pungent smell due to the glands. 

 Leaves oblong or lanceolate, obtuse, lower sinuate-toothed. Flowers 

 innumerable, minute, green sessile clustered and scattered along the 

 numerous branchlets or slender spikes, and in the axils of small 

 oblanceolate leaves, 4-5 or rarely 6-merous. Whole top of plant 

 often converted into a leafy panicle. 



Maldah, close to Purneah, Clarke ! Banks of Ganges, Kurz ! Edges of tanks, 

 Ranchi ! Fl., Fr. April-Aug. and perhaps other times. 



Lower leaves 2"5", coarsely toothed, oblong or lanceolate, smaller upward. 

 Perianth 1'5 mm. diam. Tepals elliptic acute, connate at base, valvate, incurved. 

 Stamens 4-6, hypogynous, 1*5 mm. long, filaments hyaline, anthers squai-e. Ovary 

 globose minutely papillose above, very minutely pedicelled. Stigmas 3-5 very 

 minute. Two outer tepals with granulose glands, closed valvately over fruit. 

 Seed depressed globose brown with copious albumen and embryo in a half-circle 

 with linear cotyledons. 



There has recently been a demand for this plant on account of the oil. 



2. BETA, L. Beet. 



Succulent herbs with alt. subentire leaves and 2-sexual flowers 

 axillary and in axillary spikes or cymose clusters. Perianth urceolate, 

 gamophyllous, 5-lobe'd, cohering in fruit by the enlarged hardened 

 bases. Stamens 5. Disc fleshy, annular. Ovary depressed, sunk 

 in the disc with short style and 2-4 subulate stigmas. Utricle adnate 

 to disc and base of perianth. Seed horizontal with thin testa and 

 floury albumen. Embryo annular. 



1. B. vulgaris, L. Chakanda, Vern. 



The well-known vegetable developing a large red root in cultivation with ovate 

 or oblong obtuse leaves with cordate or cuneate base, cauline smaller upwards and 

 often rhomboid or lanceolate. Spikes panicled, clusters of flowers distant with 

 narrow acute bracts, 



Widelj' cultivated in the cold season. The leaves are also used as a spinach. It 

 is probably the same species as B. maritima, common as a sea-coast plant in 

 Europe. 



3. SPINACIA, L. Spinach. 



Annual herbs with alternate leaves and dioecious ebracteate 

 flowers, the males in terminal spikes, the females in axillary clusters. 

 Male sepals 4-5 herbaceous, free. Stamens 4-5. Fem. with sub- 

 globose 2-4-toothed perianth, coriaceous in fruit and sometimes with 

 2-3 dorsal spines. Stigmas filiform, connate below. Utricle enclosed 

 in the perianth and adnate to it, hard, compressed. Seed vertical, 

 testa thin, albumen floury. Embryo annular. 



1. S. oleracea, L. Syn. S. tetrandra, Roxb. ; Palak, isphani, pinnis, 

 Vern. 

 There are two varieties of Spinach commonly grown in India. The prickly 

 fruited with triangular or hastate variously lobed leaves and the smooth fruited 



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