CURVEMBRY.E. 371 



and not a ring-like embryo, so that the endosperm is slight or 

 wanting (Fig. 366). These plants are sometimes placed as a 

 group by themselves, SPIROLOBEJ; in contradistinction to which 

 the others are termed CYCLOLOBE^;. Salsola (Saltwort) ; -leaves 

 subulate, with spiny tips ; the flowers have 2 spinous bracteoles : 

 during the ripening of the fruit a tough leathery wing is de- 

 veloped transversely to the back of the perianth. Chenopodina 

 deviates from Chenopodium chiefly in the embryo and want of endosperm. 

 Kochia has a somewhat similar perianth to Salsola, but a ring-like embryo ; 

 it differs from the others in being hairy. 



3. SALICORNIE^;, GLASSWORT GROUP. Salicornia (Glasswort) has 

 a very different appearance. The stems are succulent, jointed, and 

 almost leafless ; the leaves opposite, very small, sheath-like and 

 connate ; there is a depression in the axil of each leaf, in which a 

 small 3-flowered dichasiam without bracteoles is sunk ; the 

 flowers have a trimerous perianth, 1-2 stamens and 1 carpel. No 

 endosperm. S. herbacea on clayey beaches. 



4. ATRIPLICE^E. This group has most frequently unisexual 

 flowers ; the ^ -flower has a 4-5 partite perianth, but the $ -flower 

 differs from it. Atriplex is monoecious or polygamous, the $ - 

 flower is naked, but has 2 large, herbaceous bracteoles which 

 expand during the ripening of the fruit, and often become warted 

 and fringed, enveloping the compressed nut. The section Dichospermum 

 has two kinds of 9 -flowers, one like those just described, the other similar to the 

 Chenopodium- lowers, which have been deprived of their stamens, and the fruits 

 of which are depressed, not pressed together from the sides ; some (e.g. A. 

 hortensis) have even three kinds of nuts. All the flowers of Atriplex, which 

 present vertical fruits, are accessory shoots, which stand beneath the ordinary 

 flower-clusters, a rather singular relation. Spinacia (Spinach) is dioecious ; 

 ( -flower: perianth, 4 (-5) ; stamens, 4 (-5); $ -flower: tubular, 

 2-4-partite perianth, hardening during the ripening of the fruit, 

 and uniting with the compressed nut; in 8. oleracea, it also forms 

 thorns ; 4 long stigmas. Halimus has the 2 long bracteoles 

 almost entirely united and ultimately adhering firmly to the 

 fruit, 



5. BASELLE.E. A somewhat exceptional group with more or less perigynous 

 flowers and 2 bracteoles. Hasella, Boussincjaultia, Ullucus. The perianth is 

 sepaloid ; ovary 1-ovuled. In Basella the perianth is fleshy, enveloping the 

 nut, and the cotyledons are so rolled together that a tranverse cut divides them 

 in two places (as in Spirolobeae). Herbaceous climbing plants. 



POLLINATION. Wind- and self-pollination, as far as is known ; the insignifi- 

 cant flowers, devoid of honey, appear to exclude insect-pollination. 520 

 species. Most of them are annual (out of 26 native species only 5 are peren- 



