ATRIPLEX.] CHENOPODIACE^-K 319 



lower leaves deltoid serrate, panicle lax, spikes short dense, sepals den- 

 ticulate usually muricate on the back. 



Sub-sp. HASTA'TA, L. (sp.); erect or decumbent, dark green, mealy, lower 

 leaves opposite hastate-deltoid with horizontal cusps subacute entire or 

 toothed, spikes simple or panicled interrupted leafy at the base, sepals 

 deltoid united at the base only, seeds dimorphic, larger brown rough, smaller 

 black smooth. Common, extending to India ; ascends to 1,300 ft. in N. of 

 England. VAR. 1, hasta'ta, Huds. (sp.) ; upper leaves not hastate, spikes 

 lax, terminal of panicle long, sepals rhombic much longer than the utricle, 

 most of the seeds large. A. patula, Sm. ; Smith' it, Syme. VAR. 2, ddtoi'dea, 

 Bab. (sp. ) ; upper leaves usually hastate, spikes dense, terminal of the 

 panicle short, sepals truncate but little longer than the utricle, seeds mostly 

 small. A . prostrata, Bab. 



Sub-sp. BABINGTO'NII, Woods (sp. ) ; usually pale and very mealy, prostrate, 

 branches spreading ascending, leaves mostly opposite deltoid or rhombic- 

 ovate entire or sinuate-toothed, upper usually similar, clusters of flowers 

 remote, spikes simple lax leafy, sepals connate at the often hardened base 

 or united nearly to the middle, seeds all vertical large pale rather rough. 

 Sea-shores, abundant. Very variable ; as green as sub-sp. kastata, almost as 

 white as A. laciniata, from which the striped stems and neither swollen 

 nor much hardened base of the sepals distinguish it. 



2. A. littora'lis, L. ; mealy, stem erect striped, brandies ascending, 

 leaves linear- or elliptic-oblong usually quite entire upper very narrow, 

 sepals rhombic or deltoid toothed tubercled not hardened. 



Salt and brackish marshes, banks, &c. from W. Perth and Fife to Dorset and 



Kent; rather rare in Ireland ; fl. July-Sept. Best distinguished from A. 



patula by the narrower usually quite entire leaves, which are never hastate 



and hardly ever rhombic. Clusters of flowers in slender terminal spikes. 



^ Seeds nearly smooth, shining, all vertical. DISTRIB. Of A. patula. 



VAR. 1, littora'lis proper ; leaves quite entire or faintly toothed, tips of the 

 fruiting sepals often recurved. VAR. 2, mari'tia, L. (sp.); leaves serrate or 

 lobed, tips of fruiting sepals appressed. A. sei-rata, Huds. 



3. A. laciniata, L. ; clothed with persistent silvery scales, stem not 

 striped reddish, lower leaves opposite rhombic-ovate, upper similar or 

 hastate, floral sessile, sepals cuneate at the swollen hardened base. A. 

 arenaria, Woods, not Nuttall ; A. rosea, L. ? 



Sandy sea-coasts from the Clyde on the W. and Yorkshire on the E., south- 

 wards ; fl. July-Oct. Silvery -white all over. Stem angled, branched from 

 the base ; branches 4-10 in., diffuse, stout or slender. Leaves 1-1J in., 

 petioles short, acute or obtuse, base cuneate, subentire or irregularly acutely 

 or obtusely lobed toothed or serrate. Clusters of male flowers in short dense 

 subpanicled spikes, of female axillary with a few males intermixed. Fruit- 

 ing sepals ^ g m - diam,, united to the middle, often broader than long, 

 rhombic, acute or Acuminate, entire lobed or toothed ; disk often pro- 

 minently veined or wrinkled, rarely tubercled. Seed large, in. diam., 

 much compressed, rough, red -brown. DISTRIB. W. Europe from Norway 

 to France. This is the plant of Linn. Herb., and is no doubt that intended 

 in the Sp. Plant, though described as erect. Linnaaus included with it the 

 very similar N. American A. arenaria, Nutt. (not Woods), which differs 

 in habit and the seed. As Nuttall's name of arenaria must be retained, 

 I adopt the Linnean of lacin iata for this. 



