98 CHENOPODTACE^— CtOOSEFOOT TRIBE 



high, and sometimes erect, but more often the stem and branches spread over 

 the ground. The seed in this species of Sea-Blite is horizontal, and this is a 

 distinction of impoi'tance. 



G. Saltwort (Salsula). 



Prickly Saltwort (S. hili). — Stems herbaceous, prostrate ; leaves awl- 

 shaped, spinous, rough ; flowers axillary, solitary ; segments of the enlarged 

 perianth cartilaginous ; annual. This is an easily recognised plant, with its 

 rich green, prostrate, bi-anched, angled stem, and its succulent awl-shaped 

 leaves, terminated each by a prickle. The green, sessile, solitary flowers 

 appear in July, having at the base of each three leaf-like bracts. The fruit 

 of this plant is a very interesting and curious object under the microscope. 

 It is deeply set between three angular spinous leaves ; the perianth opens 

 into five cartilaginous valves ; the covering of the seed is tough and mem- 

 branous, and from the base of this spring the stamens. This Saltwort seems 

 very general on sandy shores throughout the world, and is the Qali or Alkali 

 of the Arabians. Both this and the other species, as Avell as a large number 

 of other saline plants, yield the barilla of commerce. The alkaline salt 

 furnished by their ashes was, some j'cars since, of great economical 

 importance, and the plants were largely cultivated in the south of France, 

 and on the Mediterranean shores of Spain, especially in the huerta of Murcia. 

 During the wars in the early jjart of this century, the demand for soda 

 rendered its price in the market very high, and the growers of the Salt-wort 

 endeavoured to cultivate the plant at a greater distance from the shore ; they 

 soon found, however, that the plan was unsuccessful. So long as the field 

 sloped upwards from the sea, so that the plants were under the direct 

 influence of the sea breeze, the Saltworts abounded in soda, but directly 

 they began to slope inwards, and were in some measure removed from the 

 saline airs and vapours, and from the particles of salt ])orne by the winds, 

 they failed to secrete soda, and yielded potash. 



The French call this Saltwort La Sonde ; and the Germans, Die Soda- 

 pflanze. It is the Loo(jh-uid of the Dutch ; the Soda of the Italians ; the Sosa 

 of the Spaniards ; and the Salhjden of the Danes. It is in country places 

 often called Sea-grape. 



Order LXX. SCLERANTHE^E— KNAWEL TRIBE. 



Perianth of one piece, tubular; limb 4 — 5 cleft; stamens 1—10, inserted 

 into the mouth of the tube ; ovary 1-celled ; styles 2 or 1 ; fruit membranous, 

 inclosed within the hardened tube of the perianth ; seed solitary. This 

 order consists of small inconspicuous herbs, -with opposite leaves, without 

 stipules, and with minute flowers. 



Knawel (Sclerdnthus). — Perianth 4— 5-cleft; stamens 1, 2, 5 or 10 ; 

 styles 2. Name from s/dcros, hard, and anfhos, a flower, from the hard 

 nature of the perianth. 



Knawel (Sclerdnthus). 



1. Annual Knawel (S. dnnuiis). — Calyx of the fruit with erect, or 

 erect-spreading, rather acute segments, edged with a narrow white mem- 



