BASELLA.] CHENOPODIACEM. 2T 



B. rubra, Linn. Sp. PL 272 ; F. B. I. v, 20 ; Watt E. D. ; Duthie 

 Field and Gard. Crops N. W. Prov. and Oudh, part Hi, 19 ; Prain 

 Beng. PL 882 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 509. B. alba, Linn. ; Roxb. 

 Fl. Ind. ii, 104. Vern. Poi, Idl-bachlu. (Indian Spinach.) 



A glabrous fleshy perennial much- branched climbing herb, often tinged 

 with red. Leaves 2-5 in. long or more, broadly ovate, acute or acum- 

 nate, thick, entire, often cordate at the base ; petioles J-l in. long. 

 Flowers sessile, white or red, in lax axillary peduncled spikes 1-6 in. 

 long ; bracts apiculate, bracteoles longer than the perianth, oblong,, 

 obtuse. Perianth remaining closed, divided half-way down ; lobes 

 elliptic, obtuse. Utricle red white or black, about the size of a pea. 



Wild and cultivated within the area. It flowers during the cold season 

 DISTRIB.: Throughout the hotter portions of India and in Ceylon 

 extending to other parts of Trop. Asia, and to Trop. Africa. Rox- 

 burgh describes five varieties in Bengal, 2 of them wild and 3^ 

 cultivated ; also a further kind (B. lucida, L. and B. cordifolia 

 Lamk.). This latter is a much larger and more succulent plant, 

 and is the one chiefly grown in Bengal for use as a pot-herb. It 

 is usually raised from cuttings and planted so as to climb over 

 the roofs of native houses and on trellises, where it affords both shade 

 and food. 



The following cultivated species belonging to genera which are not in- 

 digenous within the area of this flora should be mentioned : 



BETA VTJLGARIS, Linn.; F. B. I. v, 5 ; Watt E. D. ; DC. UOrig. PL 

 Cult. 46 ; Duthie Field and Gard. Crops, part Hi, 19 ; Prain Beng. 

 PL 879 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 509. B. benghalensis, Roxb. FL Ind. 

 Hi, 59. Vern Chukandar, patdk, palang. (Garden beet). Extensively 

 grown in India for its root, which is used chiefly by Europeans as a 

 salad. B. benqhalcnsis is a form with more erect branches. It is 

 much cultivated by the natives of N. India for the sake of its leaves 

 which are eaten as a vegetable. B. maritima L., from which the beet 

 and the mangold- wurzel are supposed by some to have originated, 

 has decumbent branches. The genus Beta differs from Chenopodium 

 in the presence of both bracts and bracteoles, and by the perianth 

 becoming thickened and hard at the base. 



SPINACIA OLERACEA, Linn. ; F. B. I. v, 6 ; Watt E. D. ; DC. L'Orig, 

 PL CvlL 78 ; Prain Beng. PL 880 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 509. S. 

 tetrandra, Roxb. FL Ind. Hi, 771 ; Royh III. 318. Vern. Paldk 

 (Spinach). This plant is largely grown in Indian native gardens,. 



