200 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM, 



SO closely as to appear like a sown crop. It was first noticed about fifteen years ago 

 at Lamy by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, and was called to the attention of one of us at 

 that time. It is now to be found in practically every locality in the State except in 

 the higher mountains. The common name is misleading, since the plant resembles 

 a thistle in no way except in being spiny. The plants when dry break off at the 

 ground and are blown about by the wind as tumbleweeds.' 



3. DONDIA Adans. Quelite salado. 



Succulent, more or less clammy herbs or suffrutescent plants with inconspicuous 

 flowers and fruits; leaves terete, alternate; flowers sessile in the axils of leaflike bracts; 

 calyx 5-parted, inclosing the fruit; stamens 5; seed vertical or horizontal. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Annuals; one or 2 of the sepals keeled; leaves broadest at the base. 



Plant depressed, sjireading 1. D. depressa. 



Plant erect 2. D. erecta. 



Perennials; none of the sepals keeled; leaves narrowed at the base. 

 Stems and leaves pubescent; leaves broad, short, stout; plants 



usually woody at the base : 3. D. suffrutescens. 



Stems and leaves glabrous; leaves narrow, long, slender; plants 



not woody at the base 4. D. moquini. 



1. Dondia depressa (Pursh) Britton in Britt. & Brown, Illustr. Fl. 1: 585. 1896. 

 Salsola depressa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 197. 1814. 



Suaeda depressa S. Wats, in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 5: 294. 1871. 

 Type locality: "On the volcanic plains of the Missouri." 

 Range: Montana and Saskatchewan to Missouri and northwestern New Mexico. 

 New Mexico: Farmington (Standley 6898). Alkaline soil, in the Upper Sonoran 

 Zone. 



2. Dondia erecta (S. Wats.) A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 364. 1902. 

 Suaeda depressa erecta S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 90. 1874. 

 Suaeda erecta A. Nels. in Coulter, New Man. Rocky Mount. 169. 1909. 

 Type locality: Kern County, southern California. 



Range: British America to California and New Mexico. 



New Mexico: Farmington; Shiprock; Albuquerque; south of Roswell. Alkaline 

 soil, in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



3. Dondia suffrutescens (S. Wats.) Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. 3. 1898. 

 Suaeda suffrutescens S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 88. 1874. 



Type locality: "From Western Texas to Southern California and Northern Mex- 

 ico, in saline plains." 



Range: As under type locality. 



New Mexico: Wliite Mountains; Mesilla Valley; Tularosa; WTiite Sands. Lower 

 and Ui^per Sonoran Zones. 



This is frequently called "verba de burro" by the Mexican laborers in the 

 southern part of the State, but this probably results from a confusion of the plant with 

 the true bun-o weed {Allenroljea occidenlalis) , which is much less common in the 

 region. 



4. Dondia moquini (Torr.) A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 363. 1902. 

 Chenopodina moquini Torr. U. S. Rep. Expl. Miss. Pacif . 7^: 18. 1856. 

 Suaeda torreyana S. Wats, Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 88. 1874. 



1 See also, Wooton, E. O. The Russian Thistle. N. Mex. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 16. 

 1895. 



