154 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Rumex flexuosus. {The Tortuous Dock). 



A much branched herb, 1ft. - 2ft. long, prostrate, shining. Leaves 4-in. - Sin. 

 long, linear-oblong, sometimes waved at the margins. Flowers in distinct 

 whorls. Lohes of perianth in fruit tVi'^- long, veined, sometimes with 1-4 

 spines, keeled. Keel sometimes spiny. Both islands : common. Fl. Nov.- 

 March. 



Fig. 44. Miihlenbeckia axillaris. Fruit (life size). 



Chenopodiaceae. 



The Beet Family. 



Distribution. — A large fanaily, distributed all over the world. Soda was at 

 one time obtained from the ashes of those species which grow in salt marshes. 

 Spinach {Spinacia) and beet (Beta) are used as table vegetables. 



Sand-dunes, sea-marshes, deserts, and old lake bottoms are 

 more or less impregnated with salts of sodium, calcium, 

 magnesium, and potassium. Plants growing in such situations 



