116 



CHENOPODIACEAE. 



2. Chenopodium murale L. 



Nettie-leaved Goosefoot. Sow- 

 bane. (Fig. 134.) Annual, some- 

 what scurfy above; stem l°-2^° 

 high, leafy to the summit. Leaves 

 rhombic-ovate, thin, bright green, 

 acute or acuminate, sharply and 

 coarsely sinuate dentate, cuneate 

 or subtruncate at the base, slender- 

 petioled, 2'^' long; flowers in 

 loose axillary panicles often not 

 longer than the petioles; calyx- 

 segments not entirely enclosing the 

 utricle; seed sharp-edged, hori- 

 zontal, firmly attached to the peri- 

 carp. 



Occasional or frequent in waste 

 places. Introduced. Native of Europe. 

 Naturalized in temperate North 

 America and in the West Indies. 

 Flowers from spring to autumn. 



3. Chenopodium ambrosioides 



L. Mexican Tea. Worm seed. 

 (Fig. 135.) Annual, glabrous or 

 slightly glandular-pubescent, strong- 

 scented; stem leafy, 2°-3° high angu- 

 lar and grooved. Leaves oblong or ob- 

 long-lanceolate, narrowed to a short 

 petiole, repand-dentate, undulate or 

 the upper entire, l'-4' long, the up- 

 per numerous and smaller; flowers 

 in small dense axillary spikes; calyx 

 usually 3-parted, completely enclos- 

 ing the fruit ; pericarp readily sep- 

 arable from the seed ; seed horizontal 

 or vertical, shining. [C. anthelmin- 

 ticum L.] 



In waste places. Common. Nat- 

 iralized from tropical America. Flow- 

 ers in summer and autumn. 



Blitum maritimum L., similar 

 to Chenopodium, but the calyx be- 

 coming fleshy and accrescent, the 

 ripe heads of fruit globose and red, 

 recorded by Reade as rare along way- 

 sides by the sea, has not been found 

 by subsequent collectors. It is native of the cooler parts of the north temperate 

 zone. The record is, perhaps, an error for Atriplex arenaria. 



2. ATRIPLEX L. 



Herbs or low shrubs, often scurfy-canescent or silvery. Leaves alternate, 



or some of them opposite. Flowers dioecious or monoecious, small, green, in 



panicled spikes or capitate-clustered in the axils. Staminate flowers bractless, 



consisting of a 3-5-parted calyx and an equal number of stamens; filaments 



