DISCUSSION OF PLANTS 69 



sodium chloride). Hilgard (2) reports n 70 parts per 

 million of sodium carbonate, 230 parts per million of 

 sodium chloride, and 2260 parts per million of sodium 

 sulphate as being characteristic quantities of the common 

 alkali salts present where the plant does best and that its 

 presence "invariably indicates a heavy impregnation of 

 land with black alkali or carbonate of soda" (2, page 542). 

 Although the latter statement is generally true, it has 

 been found on land showing only sulphates, and Kearney 

 and others (4) found it growing on land in Utah without 

 sodium carbonate as a characteristic salt. Kearney says 

 it is not an infallible alkali indicator as it was found making 

 its largest and thriftiest growth on dunes of pure sand. 

 It is usually associated with a rich silty or sandy soil, 

 moist in the upper foot and containing excessive quantities 

 of salts. It will endure larger quantities of alkali than 

 most alkali plants. Greasewood soils are sometimes too 

 alkaline to permit profitable reclamation. 



Alkali-heath {Frankenia grand if olia campenstris) is a 

 perennial herb with opposite or clustered simple leaves 

 and with a deep-rooted, flexible, wiry, rootstock. It is a 

 hardy plant which often persists as a weed on cultivated 

 land. Although it generally indicates strong alkali where 

 it is growing luxuriantly, it will grow with a great varia- 

 tion in alkali content -- from about 200 to 31,000 (1, 2) 

 parts per million of total salts. The optimum quantities 

 found by Hilgard (2) ranged from about 4000 to 17,600 

 parts per million in the upper four feet of soil. Of this 

 amount 43 to 1224 parts per million was sodium carbonate, 

 360 to 636 parts per million sodium chloride, and 2158 to 

 17,220 parts per million sodium sulphate. Hilgard re- 

 gards land that grows this plant to be unfit for crops with- 

 out reclamation, although Mackie (5) says it will generally 



