DISCUSSION OF PLANTS 67 



vigorous, especially when occurring along with other 

 alkali indicators, it may be safe to call the land unsuitable 

 for farming. It may occur on dry prairie soils where very 

 small quantities of alkali are present. 



Kern greasewood or bushy samphire (Allenrolfea occi- 

 dentalis) is a shrubby evergreen bush i to 4 feet in height 

 with numerous cylindrical, fleshy, practically leafless 

 alternating branches, and with a large taproot. It is 

 nearly always found on the low-lying, and generally clayey, 

 soils with a plentiful supply of moisture. Soils on which 

 it does well are usually saturated with water throughout 

 the growing season, but may become "dry bogs" during 

 part of the year. The salt content of such soils is almost 

 invariably high, sometimes reaching over 30,000 (1, 2) 

 parts per million of total salts with a good growth of the 

 plant. It has been found to make a good growth in the 

 presence of 300 parts per million of sodium carbonate, 

 13,000 parts per million of sodium chloride, and 17,000 

 parts per million of sodium sulphate. It grows with a 

 higher sodium chloride content than any other plant known 

 at present. Soils on which this plant forms the major 

 growth are usually hopelessly alkaline; even salt bushes 

 fail on the soils on which Allenrolfea does best. The heavy 

 soils make reclamation by drainage difficult so that such 

 soils can seldom be used profitably. 



Dwarf samphire (Salicornia subterminalis and other 

 species) is a nearly leafless plant with cylindrical, fleshy, 

 many-jointed, opposite branches. All soils upon which it 

 has been found are excessively alkaline. It grows well 

 on land with a total salt content of 27,000 (1, 2) parts 

 per million in the upper four feet. Analyses of the soil 

 on which it was growing well showed it to contain 757 

 parts per million of sodium carbonate, 7852 parts per mil- 



