412 CHENOPODIACEiE 



used as Spinach, and the plant is cultivated in Lincolnshire 

 under the name of Mercury.— Fl. May— August. Perennial. 



2. Beta (Beet). — Herbaceous plants with flat, almost entire 

 leaves and spikes of perfect flowers in clusters of 2 — 3 together ; 

 perianth deeply 5-cleft, persistent, becoming fleshy ; stamens 5 ; 

 stigmas 2 ; fruit i -seeded, adhering to the fleshy perianth-tube. 

 (Name, the Latin name of the plant.) 



I. B. maritima (Sea Beet). — The only British species, a tall, 

 succulent plant, about 2 feet high, with angular, striped stems, 

 prostrate below, and spreading in a circle, with ascending branches ; 

 large, stalked, ovoid, fleshy, glossy leaves ; and numerous long, 

 slender, leafy spikes of green flowers, which are arranged 2 or 3 

 together, with a small lanceolate, leafy bract at the base of each. 

 Sea-shores ; frequent. — Fl. June — October. Perennial. 



3. Atriplex (Orache). — Herbs or shrubs with flat, stalked, 

 often hastate leaves ; small monoecious or dioecious flowers clustered 

 in branched cymes ; perianth 2 — 5-cleft not adherent to the fruit ; 

 stamens 3 — 5 ; stigmas 2 ; fruit i -seeded, covered by the enlarging 

 but generally not adherent perianth. (Name, the old Latin 

 name.) 



1. A. littordlis (Grass-leaved Orache). — An erect, mealy plant, 

 with the stem striped with reddish, resinous lines; ascending 

 branches ; leaves linear, usually quite entire, and never hastate ; 

 flowers in slqnder, terminal spikes of clusters ; perianth-segments 

 rhomboid or deltoid, toothed, with tubercles on the back. — Salt 

 marshes ; not common. Fl. July — September. 



2. A. pdtula (Spreading Orache). — A common weed, mealy and 

 often tinged with red ; stem furrowed, spreading, often with the 

 central branch erect and the rest, prostrate, appearing as if they had 

 been bent down by force ; leaves triangular, cuneate, with 2 lobes 

 spreading upwards from the lower angles, toothed, the upper 

 leaves lanceolate, entire ; flowers clustered on simple, interrupted 

 spikes ; perianth of the fruit of 2 rhomboid leaves, which are 

 warty on the back. — Cultivated and waste ground, and on the sea- 

 shore ; abundant. Distinguished from the genus Chenop odium by 

 the two perianth-leaves enclosing the fruit. — Fl. July — October. 

 Annual. 



3. A. hastdta (Halberd-leaved Orache). — A nearly allied and 

 equally common species, dark green, mealy, and differing mainly 

 in its lower leaves, which are triangular-hastate, with lobes at the 

 base, that is, which spread horizontally. The seeds are of two 

 sizes, the larger brown and rough, the smaller black and smooth. 

 —Growing in similar situations. — Fl. July — October. Annual. 



