1112 



When young, the typical form of Chenopodium album 'presents a 

 very pale green colour of the stem and foliage, which pale green 

 colour passes into various shades of red and white, as the age of the 

 plant increases. For instance, when the flowers are fully formed the 

 margins of the leaves put on a roseate tint, which tint, as the fruit 

 ripens, extends over more or less of the surface of the leaf. The 

 perianth, at a still later period, becomes also of a similar roseate hue, 

 or else a deep red colour is found diffused over it ; and at the same 

 time the stem is striated with white and green lines, harmoniously 

 shaded off with pink. The stem is usually simple and upright, hav- 

 ing but few leaves, and is terminated by short branches, which bear 

 the panicles of fruit ; so that the plant presents something of the 

 aspect of small specimens of Atriplex deltoidea. In the more robust 

 specimens, the panicles of inflorescence become elongated, having 

 the terminal flower stalked and larger than the others, and the nume- 

 rous lengthened fruit-bearing branches tower above the few leaves of 

 the stem. 



The form of the leaves is variable ; but these organs are generally 

 broad, in proportion to their length. The fugacious lowermost leaves 

 are roundish ovate, rather triangular or deltoid at the base, irregularly 

 sinuate-dentate at the margins, and rounded off" at the end. The 

 middle leaves are narrower than the lowermost, more rhomboid; some 

 of them very acute at the apex, and very irregularly as well as deeply 

 indented at the margins. The middle as well as the lower leaves 

 are characterized by a distinct tendency to the three-lobed form. 

 The uppermost leaves are lanceolate and entire, degenerating into 

 bracteas at the base of the inflorescence. All the leaves are more or 

 less glaucous and mealy beneath, when young. 



The fruit is variable in size, and covered by a perianth, larger and 

 more fully developed than is the same part in the luxuriant variety of 

 rich soils. When the fruit is first formed, the filmy, white pericarp 

 easily rubs off", and the exposed seed is black, shining, and very 

 minutely striate -dotted. After a period, the transparent, easily 

 removable pericarp of the early state of the fruit hardens, and becomes 

 opaque, of a brown colour, and covered with whitish pa})illaj. It is 

 very difl^cult to remove the hardened pericarp from the seed. In the 

 well-formed and fully developed fruit, the lower portion is decidedly 

 more convex than the upper, its shaj)e being like that of a bun. The 

 keel of the margin is variable, and not always present. After the ])ro- 

 cess of fructification is perfected, the segments of the strongly keeled 

 perianth separate, and exjiose the fruit. The gay a])pearancc of the 



