Roubieva. CHENOPODIACE^E. 49 



5. MONOLEPIS, Schrader. 



Flowers polygamous, without bracts. Perianth of a single persistent scale-like 

 or bract-like sepal, not appendaged, becoming dry in fruit. Stamen 1. Styles 2, 

 filiform. Pericarp membranous, persistent upon the vertical flattened seed. Em- 

 bryo annular or curved around copious albumen ; radicle inferior. Low saline annu- 

 als, glabrous or somewhat mealy, with small alternate petioled fleshy leaves : flowers 

 small, in axillary clusters. 



A small genus, mostly confined to the interior of North America, including two northern 

 Asiatic species besides the following. 



1. M. ch9iiopodioid.es, Moquin. Branched from the base: stems 3 to 12 

 inches long, ascending, leafy : leaves lanceolate-hastate or sometimes narrowly spatu- 

 late, a half to one inch long, entire or sparingly sinuate-dentate, acute or obtuse, 

 cuneate or attenuate at base, the upper nearly sessile ; lower petioles elongated : 

 flower-clusters dense, often reddish : sepal fleshy and foliaceous, oblanceolate or 

 spatulate, often much exceeding the fruit: pericarp fleshy, becoming dry and 

 minutely pitted, adherent : seed lenticular, or often reniform with a curved embryo, 

 the margin acutish, half a line long. DC. Prodr. xiii 2 . 85, excl. var. ; Watson, 

 Rev. Chenop. 102. Blitum chenopodioides, Nutt. 



Throughout the interior, from the Saskatchewan to Northeastern California, Texas and Arizona ; 

 Sierra County, Lcmmon. 



2. M. spathulata, Gray. Eesembling small specimens of the last ; leaves all 

 narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate, half an inch long or less, entire : flowers smaller ; 

 sepal rarely exceeding the fruit : pericarp minutely papillose, separating from the 

 minute shining seed, which is less than a quarter of a line broad. Proc. Am. 

 Acad. vii. 389 ; Watson, 1. c. 



In the Sierra Nevada ; at Mono Pass (Bolander) and in Sierra County, Lemmon. 



3. M. pusilla, Torrey. Very slender, erect, diffusely and dichotomously much 

 branched from the base, 2 to 6 inches high, often reddish : leaves oblong, obtuse, 

 entire, scarcely petioled : flowers solitary or few in the clusters, minute : sepals (1 

 to 3) much shorter than the fruit and evanescent : pericarp thin, adherent, minutely 

 tuberculate : seed less than a quarter of a line broad. Watson, Bot. King Exp. 

 291; Rev. Chenop. 102. 



On the dry alkaline flats of Northwestern Nevada, and doubtless of Northeastern California ; 

 a very distinct anil interesting species. v 



6. ROUBIEVA, Moquin. 



Flowers perfect or pistillate, without bracts. Perianth 'deeply campanulate, 

 3-5-toothed, at length saccate and contracted over the fruit, 3-5-nerved and net- 

 veined. Stamens 5, included. Ovary glandular at the top : styles 3, somewhat 

 lateral, exserted. Pericarp membranous, glandular-dotted, thin and deciduous. 

 Seed vertical, lenticular ; testa crustaceous. Embryo annular, around copious albu- 

 men. - A perennial glandular heavy-scented South American herb, with alternate 

 pinnatifid leaves : flowers solitary or few in the axils. 



1. R. multifida, Moquin. Prostrate or ascending, branching and leafy; stems 

 a foot long or more : leaves lanceolate to linear, to 1J inches long, acute, deeply 

 pinnatifid with narrow lobes : fruiting calyx obovate, nearly a line long : seed 

 small. DC. Prodr. xiii 2 . 80 ; Watson, 1. c. 99. 



Very sparingly introduced ; Plunias County, Mrs. Ames. Allied to section Botryois of Cheno- 

 podium, to which genus it is sometimes referred. 



