584 CHENOPODIACES. ‘ [Atroplex. 
2. A. patula, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1053.—A very variable erect or 
decumbent or prostrate annual herb 1-2 ft. high, green and smooth, 
or sparingly mealy-white. Leaves petiolate, 1-3in. long, lanceo- 
late to broadly triangular-hastate, acute or obtuse, entire or coarsely 
sinuate-toothed ; the uppermost often smaller and linear, the lowest 
sometimes opposite. Flowers small, moncecious, in clusters ar- 
ranged in rather slender spikes, often forming narrow terminal 
panicles; the male and female flowers mixed or occasionally some 
of the females form separate axillary clusters. Male perianth small, 
5-partite. Fruiting-bracts ovate-rhomboid or deltoid, acute, the 
disc smooth or tubercled ; margins toothed or entire.—Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Gel. i. 215; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 932: Benth. Pl Austra 
v. 173. 
NortH Aanp SourH Isutanps: Not uncommon in brackish-water swamps 
and other places near the sea from the Thames River southwards. December-— 
March. 
Now plentiful in almost all temperate parts of the world, either native or 
naturalised. How far it is indigenous in Australia and New Zealand is now 
very difficult to determine. The broad-leaved form known as var. hastata is the 
one most generally seen, but the more slender var. littoralis is also met with. 
3. A. Buchanani, 7. Kirk, MSS.—An excessively branched 
prostrate herb, forming broad depressed greyish-white patches 
8-9 in. across; stem woody at the base; branchlets slender, wiry, 
terete. Leaves shortly petiolate or almost sessile, $+4in. long, 
oblong or oblong-ovate to suborbicular, rounded at the tip, quite 
entire, both surfaces densely clothed with white scurfy tomentum. 
Flowers minute, moncecious. Males in few-flowered clusters in the 
axils of the upper leaves or terminal, sometimes solitary. Perianth 
densely farinose, 5-partite ; segments oblong, obtuse, incurved at 
the tip. Stamens 5, exserted; filaments filiform. Females solitary 
or in clusters of 2-5 in the lower axils, occasionally a few females 
at the base of the male clusters. Fruiting-bracts connate into an 
ovoid or almost urceolate 2-lipped cup. Utricle suborbicular, com- 
pressed, sunk within the base of the bracts. — Chenopodium 
Buchanani, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1898) 447, t. 32, f. 1. 
Norru Istanp: Sea-cliffs near Wellington, Buchanan! Kirk! Sovutx 
IstanD: Marlborough—The Brothers Rocks, Robson! Canterbury—Near the 
mouth of the Rangitata, Hnys! Otago—Green Island and cliffs on the Kast 
Coast, Petrie! saline places in the interior, Maniototo Plains, Ida Valley, Crom- 
well, Petrie! Centre Island (Foveaux Strait), Kirk ! Sea-level to 1800 ft. 
December—March. 
A distinct little species. Someimmature specimens in Mr. Kirk’s herbarium 
from Cargill Cliffs, near Dunedin, are more sparingly branched and have much 
larger leaves, and may form a separate variety. 
4. A. Billardieri, Hook. 7. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 215.—A much- 
branched glabrous and succulent prostrate herb, everywhere covered 
with shining watery papille ; branches 6-18 in. long, spreading on 
