44 CHENOPUDIACE.E. 



(becoming appfiulaged, wiuged, baccate, etc.), or sometimes wanting in tlie fertile 

 llowers ; stamens as many as tlie sepals and opposite them or fewer, distinct, with 

 I'-celled anthers; ovary 1-celleil, containing a solitary amphitropous or canipylo- 

 tropous ovule on a funicle rising from its base, an akene or utricvdar in fruit ; 

 embryo slender, either annular, and surrounding the mealy albumen, or spiral with 

 the albumen lateral or wanting. Flowers either perfect or unisexual. Bracts often 

 enclosing the fruit. .Sepals imbricated in the bud. .Styles or stigmas 1 to 4. 

 — Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii^ 41. AVatson, Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 82. 



A wide-spread ordur of about (JO genera and 400 species, mostly extra-troi)icnl and in hngn 

 ilegree peculiar to niaiitinie or saline localities, and including some cosmopolitan weeds. It is 

 extensively represented in the desert and alkaline regions of Western America (most of the vari- 

 ous plants that are popidarly known as " (irease Wood " belonging to it), as in Asia and the Medi- 

 terranean region. It lurnishes the Ik'et (/)t'<(t vulgaris, Liiui.), which has been cultivated for 

 ages, and the ilangel W'uizel {B. Ciclu, Linn.) ; several species, as Spinach {Spinucid olcracca, 

 Linn.) and the Garden Orach {Atrip/ex hortensis, Linn.), are used as jiotherbs ; and the seeds of 

 others are used for food by the Indians of North and South America. Some possess aromatic and 

 medicinal i)ropertie.s, and others contain large quantities of alkaline salts. 



Tkibe L CHENOPODIE.E. Flowers perfect, without bracts ; the jierianth ])crsistent. Seed 

 free, mostly with crustaceous testa and copious albumen. Embryo annular. Stems not 

 articulated, nor leaves terete except in Kochin. 



* Seeds horizontal (sometimes vertical in Cheuopodium). 



1. Kochia. Perianth 5-cleft, at length transversely winged, enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5. 



Testa membranous and albumen none, rerenniul, with terete leaves and axillary 

 flowers. 



2. Aphaiiisma. Perianth 3-cleft, not appendaged, persistent at the base of the fruit. Sta- 



men 1. Glabrous annual, with ovate entire leaves, and minute axillary ilowei-s. 



3. Teloxys. Perianth of i, carinate sepals, partly covering the fruit. Stamen 1 or none. An- 



nual, repeatedly dichotoniou.s, with lanceolate toothed leaves, and axillary or terminal 

 solitary llowers. 



4. Chenopodium. Perianth usually 5-cleft or -parted, nearly covering the fruit. Stamens 5 or 



fewer. Mostly m.'aly or glandular, with the clu.stered llowers axillary or in axillary and 

 terminal spikes. Seed in some species often vertical. 



♦ » Seeds vertical. 



5. Monolepis. Sepal 1, bract-like. Stamen 1. Fruit naked. Low annuals ; flowers densely 



clustered in the axils. 



6. Roubieva. Perianth 3-5-toothed, becoming saccate and enclosing the fruit. Perennial 



herb, with pinnatitid leaves ; llowers .solitiiry or few in the axils. 



Tribe II. ATRIPLIOE^F.. Flowers monfrcions or dioecious; the staminate with 3-5chft 

 periantli ; the jjistillate without perianth, enclosed in a pair of more or less united bracts. 

 Seed free, vertical, with annular embryo and copious albumen. Stems not articulated nor 

 leaves fleshy. 



* Bracts compressed : testa mostly coriaceous. 



7. Atriplex. Fruiting bracts with margins often dilated and sides often muricate. Padicle 



from inferior to superior. 



* » Bracts obcompressed, completely united, not muricate : testii membranous : radicle inferior. 



8. Eurotia. Peiicarp conical, somewhat obcompressed, densely liairy, not winged. Low and 



bhrubbv, white-toinentose. 



9. Grayia. PeVicarp flattened, orbicular, wing-margined, glabrous. Shrubby, somewhat spines- 



cent, nearly glabrous. 



Tkibe III. CORISPERME.E. Flowers perfect, bractless. Sepals 1 to 3, hyaline, niarces- 

 cent. Pericarp adherent to the vertical seed. Embryo annular around copious albumen. 

 Stems not articulated nor leaves fleshy. 



10. Corispermum. Fruit compressed-elliptic, acutely margined, not muricate : flowers soli- 



tary, axillary. Low annual. 



