30 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Lower leaves serrate or clentate-scrrate, with the basal angle a com- 

 monly right] angle. Spikes rather short, dense, arranged in a large 

 much branched regular jDanicle. Fruit perianth usually denticulate, 

 usually muricated on the back. 



In cultivated ground and waste places, and by roadsides, more 

 rarely on sandy seashores. Yar. a very common, and generally dis- 

 tributed. Yar. 3 also common. Yar. 7 very rare; I have seen it 

 o-rowing only at Twickenham, where it was found by the Rev. W. 

 W. Newbould in 1867 ; Smith states it was found by Professor 

 Martyn, sen., at the entrance of Battersea Fields from Nme Elms. 



Eno-land, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Late Summer, Autumn. 



Stem erect or ascending, 6 inches to 2 feet high, generally branched 

 with long lower branches, leavuig the stem at a right angle and com- 

 monly curving upwards, but sometimes spreading throughout. Leaves 

 1 to 4 inches long, variable in breadth. Leaves on the main stem always 

 opposite, the lower ones with a large projecting tooth at the lateral 

 ano-les so as to be hastate, the tooth pointing towards the apex of the 

 leaf ; uppermost leaves often alternate, destitute of this tooth ; leaves 

 on the branches smaller than those on the main stem and alternate. 

 Spikes usually with the glomerules contiguous above, the loAver ones 

 often distant, with leaves at the base as in A. littoralis. Perianth variable 

 in size, usually from ^ to ^ inch long, in var. a frequently foliaceous 

 and \ inch long. Seeds black, rather smaller than those of A. littoralis, 

 and much more distinctly punctured. Plant dull dark green, more or 

 less thickly covered, especially when young, with whitish meal, which 

 sometimes, but rarely, obscures the green colour of the plant. 



The var. 3 is often taken for the A. erecta of Hudson. It has the 

 leaves usually broader than in var. a, and the branches more erect, 

 and shorter in proportion to the central stems ; the leaves being ser- 

 rated, and the perianth muricated on the back, are certainly little 

 deserving of consideration as separating characters, as they are specially 

 liable to variation in the genus Atriplex. 



Yar. 7 is perhaps a subspecies; it has the habit of Chenopodium 

 ficifolium, with very stout stiffly erect stems, 18 inches to 3 feet high, 

 and erect or erect-ascending branches; the lower ones much shorter 

 than in the two other vars. The fruit perianth is smaller, and the 

 spikes much denser and more numerous, forming a great panicle like 

 that of A. dcltoidea, which it resembles also in the dense leafless spikes 

 and small perianth, but the leaves are wedgeshaped at the base with the 

 cusps ascending. It is desirable that experiments should be made to 

 ascertain if this form be constant when raised from seed. 



Narrow-leaved Orache. 



French, Arrocjio etalce. German, Ausgehreitete Melde. 

 Tliis, species is sometimes gathered as a potherb, and oaten instead of spinach and 

 other greens. 



