872 THE GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. [So/worm* 



perianth, divided into 2 or 3 stigmas. Nut enclosed in the unchanged 

 succulent perianth. Seed ovoid, without albumen. Radicle bent back 

 over the cotyledons. 



A genus of very few species, ranging over the salt-marshes of all parts 

 of the world. 



1. S. herbacea, Linn. (fig. 839). Marth Samphire, Glasswort. In its 

 simplest form this is a glabrous, bright green, succulent, erect annual, 

 scarcely 6 inches high, with few erect branches, each one terminated 

 by a spike, to 1 inch long. When luxuriant, after the first flowering, 

 branches shoot out from every joint or node as well as from the spike 

 itself, the lower ones become hard, and often procumbent, rooting at 

 the nodes, and the whole plant will extend to a foot or more ; and in 

 favourable situations a few plants will outlive the winter, so as to have 

 the appearance of undershrubs, but probably do not last beyond the 

 second year. 



[A very variable plant. The British varieties, procumbent, ramosissima, 

 and pusilla, indicate these characters. A very different form usually 

 recognised as a species, is S. radicans, Sm., with perennial woody creeping 

 stems ; it is confined to western Europe, and in Britain to the coasts 

 from York to Devon.] 



II. SU2EDA. StLffiDA. 



Herbs or undershrubs, with rather small, linear, semi-cylindrical, succu- 

 lent leavea Flowers and fruit of Chenopodium, except that the embryo 

 of the seed is coiled into a flat spiral, with little or no albumen. 



A genus of very few species, ranging over the seacoasts of most parts 

 of the globe, readily distinguished amongst British Chenopodiacece by the 

 foliage as well as by the seed. ; 



Stem shrubby at the base. Styles 3 1. S. frutieoga. 



Stem annual, much branched, or diffuse. Styles 2 . . . . 2. S. maritwta. 



1. S. fruticosa, Forsk. (fig. 840). Shrubby S.A branching perennial, 

 more or less shrubby at the base, sometimes erect, and 1 to 2 feet high, 

 sometimes low and spreading. Leaves numerous, linear but thick, 

 nearly cylindrical and succulent, 3 to 5 or rarely 6 lines long, of a pale 

 green. Flowers small, and solitary or 2 or 3 together, closely sessile in 

 the axils of the leaves. Styles 3, rather longer than the perianth. 



In maritime sands, and salt marshes, all round the Mediterranean, in 

 central Asia, and up the western coasts of Europe to Holland, occurring 

 also here and there in America. In Britain, very local, and confined to 

 the eastern and southern coasts of England. Fl. autumn. 



2. S. maritima, Dumort. (fig. 841). Herbaceous S.A low, much 

 branched annual, or sometimes biennial, of a green or reddish colour, 

 seldom a foot high, and often not above 2 or 3 inches. Leaves linear 

 and succulent as in S. frutitota, but usually longer and sometimes more 

 pointed ; the lower ones often an inch long, the upper ones 3 to 6 lines. 

 Flowers small, green, and sessile, solitary or 2 or 3 together in the axils 

 of the leaves. Styles usually 2 only. 



In salt-marshes and maritime sands, in Europe and central Asia, 

 extending northward to the shores of Scandinavia and the Baltic. 

 Common all round the British Isles. PI. summer and autumn. 



