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BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



Many plants of this Order, to which Spinach, 

 Beet, and other plants useful for food or medicine 

 belong, prefer a saline soil. 



Perennial Goose-foot — Chenopodium Bonus- 



Henricus 



(Plate LXXX) 



This is a naturalised plant, found in waste 

 places. It has a thick root and large leaves, and 

 grows to the height of a foot. It was formerly 

 much grown in kitchen gardens ; as also the 

 following plant. 



Garden Orache — A triplex hortensis 



(Plate LXXXI) 



This is hardly naturalised, but is met with occa- 

 sionally, having probably escaped from cultivation. 

 As in the case of the Beet, which is allied, this plant 

 sometimes shows a tendency to assume a red instead 

 of a green colour. Among the British species of this 

 Order are several belonging to the genera Cheno- 



podium, A triplex, etc. Some of these are sea- 

 shore plants, as also the Sea Beet {Beta maritima), 

 which is closely allied to the cultivated plant, if 

 not the wild original from which the latter was 

 derived. 



There are several cultivated varieties or closely 

 allied species of Beet, in some of which the thick 

 fleshy root assumes a round form and large size. 

 Among these are the Red Beet (used for pickling) ; 

 the White Beet, or Sugar Beet, largely grown on 

 the Continent for the manufacture of sugar ; and 

 the Mangold Wurzel (properly Mangel Wurzel, or 

 Famine Root), extensively grown in Britain as 

 winter provender for cattle. 



Order LXVI. Polygonacecz (4 genera) 



An Order of moderate extent, distinguished 

 by the stem being surrounded by a circle of 

 bracts. The flowers have a divided perianth, 

 and several styles and stigmas. The ovary is 

 single, with a single ovule, which develops into 

 a small nut. 



