430 



CHENOPODIACEAE 



dry calyx. Embryo annular, surrounding the copious endosperm. One 

 species. (Greek aphanes, inconspicuous.) 



1. A. blitoides Nutt. Branched at the base with slender ascending stems, 

 1/2 to 2 feet high; leaves ovate, acuminate, cordate or truncate at the sessile 

 base, % to 2 inches long, or the lowest lanceolate and long-petioled ; achene 

 y 2 line broad. 



Del Mar; San Diego; Carrizo Creek. Santa Barbara Island. 



Eefs. APHANISMA BLITOIDES Nutt.; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 54 (1849), type loc. San 

 Diego, Nuttall. 



3. BETA L. 



Robust glabrous biennial herbs with large fleshy roots. Leaves alternate, 

 large, long-petioled, the floral reduced and subsessile. Flowers perfect, 

 greenish white, in sessile axillary clusters; clusters 2 or 3-flowered, disposed 

 in panicled spikes, the flowers cohering in fruit by the enlarged bases of the 

 calyx. Calyx 5-parted, its lobes costate dorsally, in fruit indurated and clos- 

 ring over the achene. Stamens 5, perigynous; filaments frequently connate at 

 base. Ovary sunk in the succulent base of the calyx; styles 2 or 3, short, 

 stigmatose on the inside. Achene adnate to the calyx-base. Embryo annu- 

 lar. About 12 Old World species. (Perhaps Celtic bett, red, on account of 

 the color of the root.) 



1. B. vulgaris L. BEET. Stems stout, 2 to 6 feet high, paniculately 

 branched above; root conical; lower leaves 4 to 10 inches long, oblong or 

 ovate, undulate, the upper smaller, ovate-lanceolate. 



Naturalized in marshes from gardens: Petaluma; Alvarado; Monterey; 

 San Bernardino. June. 



Eefs. BETA VULGARIS L. Sp. PI. 222 (1753), type European; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 175 

 (1901). 



4. CHENOPODIUM L. GOOSEFOOT. PIGWEED. 



Annual or perennial herbs, frequently white-mealy or glandular, with alter- 

 nate petioled leaves. Flowers perfect, greenish, bractless and sessile, clustered, 

 the clusters commonly in simple or panicled spikes. Calyx 5 (or 3 to 4) 

 -parted, persistent and usually enclosing the seed-like achene, rarely reduced 

 to a single sepal. Stamens 5 or fewer. Ovary depressed; styles 2, rarely 3 

 or 4, slender. Achene with membranous pericarp closely investing the seed. 

 Embryo annular, sometimes incompletely so. About 60 species, temperate 

 zones. (Greek chen, goose, and pous, foot, on account of the shape of the 

 leaves.) 



Fruiting calyx dry. 



Annual; calyx deeply parted into lobes or segments. 

 Finely mealy, at least not pubescent or glandular. 

 Achene with pericarp closely persistent on seed. 



Erect, herbage light green 1. C. album. 



Diffuse, herbage dark green 2. C. murale. 



Achene with pericarp separating readily from seed 3. C. fremonlii. 



Glandular-pubescent and aromatic, but not mealy. 

 Flower-clusters spicate or paniculate. 



Leaves slender-petioled ; achene imperfectly enclosed by calyx ; spikes cymose- 



diverging, leafless 4. C. boirys. 



Leaves slightly petioled; achene perfectly enclosed by calyx. 



Spikes dense, leafy 5. C. ambrosioides. 



Spikes more elongated, leafless 6. C. anthelminticum. 



Flower-clusters all axillary 7. C. carinatiim. 



Perennial; calyx merely toothed or cleft, more distinctly synsepalous; spike terminal, 



leafy only below; achene exserted 8. C. californicum. 



Fruiting calyx fleshy, often reddish; annual. 



Calyx deciduous 9. C. rubnim. 



Calyx persistent, the clusters red and berry-like 10. C. capitatum. 



1. C. album L. PIGWEED. WHITE GOOSEFOOT. Erect, 2 to 4 feet high, 

 usually paniculately branched; herbage more or less light green or white- 



