SALSOLA.] CHENOPODIACEJE. 25 



linear or ellipsoid, obtuse, narrowed to the base, floral leaves shorter. 

 Flowers 2-sexual, axillary, solitary or 2 or 3 together, the upper ones 

 forming slender leafy spikes ; bracteoles membranous, shorter than 

 the perianth, ovate, acute, entire or denticulate. Perianth (in fruit) 

 subglobose, about T V in. long ; segments thick, oblong, concave, 

 obtuse, incurved. Utricle obovoid ; stigmas 3, short, spreading. 

 Seed erect, obliquely ovoid, beaked, black and shining when ripe. 

 A common plant in saline soils, and often found as a gregarious bush 

 in the usar tracts of the Upper Gangetic Plain and in Merwara. It 

 flowers during the cold season. DISTRIB.: Plains of Punjab and 

 Sind, also in Baluchistan, extending to Africa and the Mediterranean 

 region. The plant is much eaten by camels, and a crude form of 

 barilla is prepared from it in Sind. 



2. s. maritime, Lumcrt. FL Bclg. 22 ; F. B. L i\ 14 ; Watt E. D.; 

 Comm. Prod. Ind. 114 ; Train Beng. PL 878 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 

 506. Salsola indica, Willd. ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 62. Vern. Ldni, 

 Jchari-ldni. 



An erect annual herb or occasionally an undershrub, glaucous-green, 

 Stems 1 J-2 ft. high, with many slender erect branches. Leaves many, 

 f-1 in. long, fleshy, semiterete, linear or filiform, subacute, floral 

 leaves very small. Flowers in small subglobose clusters forming 

 slender lax elongate spikes ; bracteoles membranous, ovate, entire. 

 Perianth minute ; segments rounded, covering the utricle. Stigmas 

 2, slender. Seed horizontal, obliquely ovoid or suborbicular, black 

 and shining. 



In the neighbourhood of Delhi (C. B. Clarke), also on the usar tracts in 

 the Upper Gangetic Plain (Duthie). Flowers during the hot season. 

 DISTRIB.: Sea-coast of Bengal and Bombay and in S. India and 

 Ceylon, extending to Siam, N. and W. Asia, N. Africa, Europe and 

 N. America. The leaves, which are quite wholesome, are eaten by 

 the poorer classes in times of scarcity. : 



4. SALSOLA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. v, 17. 



Herbs or shrubs, branches not jointed. Leaves usually alternate, 

 sessile and often amplexicaul, sometimes with pungent tips, 

 Flowers small, axillary, solitary or fascicled, bracteoles 2. Perianth 

 5 (rarely 4) -partite ; segments concave, accrescent in fruit, usually 

 furnished with a broad scarious horizontal wing above the middle 

 .and completely embracing the utricle. Stamens 5 or fewer, usually 



