130 



44. AMAEANTACEzE. 



Chenopodium mura\e. 



removed, and with a 



Roadsides and Avaste places in 

 town and country. — Aug.-Apl. — 

 Almost cosmopolitan. 



2. C. glaucum, L. Glau- 

 cous Goose foot. Prostrate or 

 ascending annual with striate, 

 reddish stems ; leaves rather 

 small, succulent, green above, 

 mealy-white below, oval-oblong, 

 blunt, sinuate -toothed, with 

 short, unequal, distant teeth ; 

 flower-clusters almost glabrous, 

 in axillary spikes shorter than 

 the leaves and in terminal 

 spikes interspersed with small 

 leaves near the base ; perianth 

 closing over, but not quite con- 

 cealing the fruit ; segments 

 mostly 3-4, with a faint keel 

 which is thickened in fruit ; 

 stamen 1 ; seeds horizontal, 

 rarely vertical, smooth and 

 shining after the greenish pericarp is 

 blunt edge. 



Salt lands near the sea, Adelaide; Kangaroo Island.— 

 Nov.-Apl. — Europe; Asia. 



3. C. album, L. White Goosefoot. Annual, 1-2 m. 

 (3-6 ft.) high, with an erect, angular, red-.striped 8tem, 

 branching almost from the base ; leaves more or less mealy, 

 especially below, oval-rhomboidal, irregularly sinuate- 

 toothed except along the base, uppermost leaves lanceolate, 

 almost entire; flower-clusters mealy, reddening in fruit, in 

 short, dense spikes, forming very long, narrow, axillary 

 and terminal panicles, leafy towards the base; perianth 

 segments thickened, keeled and concealing the fruit ; stamens 

 5; seed horizontal, shining-black after the pericarp is re- 

 moved, and with a blunt edge. 



Our commonest form is tall, with very loose panicles, 

 acute leaves, sometimes almost 3-lobed and always white- 

 mealy below ; another form is shorter, with denser panicles 

 and short, broad, blunt leaves (like those of ('. opiilijolium, 

 Schrad.), but the seed is always smooth and shining, al- 

 though without the sharply keeled edge which is usually 

 considered characteristic of G. album. 



Waste places and cultivated land.— Nov. -Aug. — Almost 

 cosmopolitan. 



Family 44.— AMARANTACE>E. 



1. Amarantus, L. 



Flowers monoecious, small, with 1 scarious bract and 

 usually 1-2 bracteoles at base; perianth of 3 or o scarioiis 



