THE APETALOTJS ORDERS. 



461 



compound ovary of ten confluent (one-seeded) carpels, the short 

 styles or stigmas distinct ; the fruit a flattened berry. The root is 

 acrid and emetic : yet the young shoots in the spring are used as 

 a substitute for Asparagus. The berries yield a copious deep- 

 crimson juice. Other genera connect the order with the next ; but 

 are distinguished, when the stamens are of the same number as the 

 sepals, by their position alternate with them, as in Portulacacese. 



860. Ord, Chenopodiaceae (the Goosefoot Family). Chiefly weedy 

 herbs, with alternate and more or less succulent leaves, and small 

 herbaceous flowers. Calyx sometimes tubular at the base, persist- 

 ent ; the stamens as many as its lobes, or fewer, and inserted at 

 their base. Ovary free, one-celled, with a single ovule arising 

 from its base. Fruit a utricle or achenium. Embryo curved or 

 coiled around the outside of mealy albumen, or spiral, without any 

 albumen (in Salsola, &c.). Ex. Chenopodium, Atriplex, Beta 

 (the Beet), &c. Sea-side plants, or common weeds : some are 

 pot-herbs, such as Spinach : a few are cultivated for their esculent 

 roots ; as the Beet, which contains sugar. Soda is largely extract- 

 ed from the maritime species, especially from those of Salsola and 

 Salicornia (Samphire, Glass-wort). Chenopodium anthelminticum 

 yields the Worm-seed oil. 



FIG. 971. Part of the spike of Salicornia herbacea : the flowers placed three together in ex- 

 cavations of the stem, protected by a fleshy scale. 972. Separate flower. 973. A flower of 

 Blitum, with its fleshy calyx and single stamen. 974. Same, more enlarged, with the thick- 

 ened juicy calyx (975) removed. 976. The ripe fruit. 977. Same, divided vertically, showing 

 the embryo coiled around the central albumen. 978. Flower of Chenopodium album (common 

 Goosefoot). 979. Section of the same, more enlarged. 980. Section of the utricle and seed, 

 showing the embryo. 981. Calyx of Salsola kali (Saltwort), in fruit, with its wing-like border. 

 982. Section of the same, bringing the ovary into view. 983. The spirally coiled embryo of 

 Chenopodina maritima. 



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