POLYGONACEiE. 30 



ATRIPLEX HORTENSIS. Lhm. 



Found occasionally on waste ground, but only as an escape from 

 cultivation. I have seen this on railway banks and newly-disturbed 

 ground about Leatherhead, Surrey. 



ATRIPLEX NITENS. Beh. 



Has occurred in the Isle of Wight, chiefly on the shore between 

 Ryde and l>in stead, and in otlier places, but does not appear to become 

 permanently established. 



ORDER LXIL— POLYGONACEiE. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or more rarely erect or climbing shrubs, 

 with the leaves alternate, very rarely opposite, simple, usually stalked, 

 almost always with the stipules forming a sheath {ochrea) enclosing 

 the stem, Avhich, however, is sometimes reduced merely to a ring. 

 Flowers perfect, or more rarely unisexual, and then usually dioe- 

 cious, regular, commonly in axillary clusters, combined into spikes, 

 racemes, or panicles. Perianth single or double, herbaceous, or 

 coloured like a corolla, with 3 or 6 segments in one whorl, or 4 or 6 

 in two whorls ; the segments free, or more or less cohering at the base, 

 sometimes united into a tube ; Avhen free, the inner ones often increas- 

 ing in size after flowering; aestivation imbricated. Stamens definite, 

 usually from 5 to 8, perigynous, or more rarely hypogynous and 

 seated on a glandular disk. Ovary solitary, free or adhering at the 

 base to the tube of the perianth or to the angles of the ovary, 1-celled 

 and 1-ovuled; ovule orthotropous ; styles 3, more rarely 2 or 4, free 

 or combined at the base, sometimes very short, so that the stigmas 

 are nearly or quite sessile. Fruit a Small indehiscent nut, 3-sided 

 when there are 3 stigmas, or lenticular when there are only 2, or 

 4-sided in the few cases in which they are 4. Seed solitary, with a 

 membranous testa and a basal hilum; embryo straight or curved; 

 albumen usually abundant, farinaceous, rarely fleshy. 



GENUS T.—R U M E X. Linn. 



Flowers perfect, more rarely monoecious or dioecious by abortion. 

 Perianth herbaceous, of 6 segments in 2 rows, the 3 outer {seiials) 

 slightly cohering at the base, and not accrescent, the 3 inner {petals) 



