50 CHENOPODIACE.E. AirlpJex. 



7. ATRIPLEX, Touiii. 

 Flowers moiuccious or did'cious. Staiuiiiiite llowers witliout bnict.s : ])eri:uitli 

 3-r)-cl(!rt or -|tiuto(l : istamuiis as many. J'islillato llowcis 2-bi'acteati!, without 

 perianth or rarely with 2 to 4 distinct hyaline sepals. Dracts erect and ajjpressed, 

 distinct or more or less united, becoming enlarged and enclosing the fruit, the mar- 

 gins at length often dilated and the sides thickened or indurated and muricate. 

 Styles 2, liliform. Fruit compressed ; pericarp thin and membranous. Seed verti- 

 cal, with a thin crustaoeous or coriaceous testa. Embryo annular, surrounding coj)!- 

 ous albumen ; radicle inferior, superior, or lateral. — Herbs or shru1)S, mealy or 

 scurfy; leaves alttn-nate or rarely opposite; flowei-s usually clustered, axillary or 

 m simple or panicled spikes, the sexes distinct or mingled in the clusters. — Obioue, 

 !Moquin. Fterochiton, Torrey. 



About 120 species, distributed over most parts of the globe, miiinly along the sea-eoasts or in 

 other saline localities ; a tew cultivated as ].otherbs. Fully a tliinl of the species is found in 

 the United Statis, especially in the dry and alkaline portions of the interior and southern regions, 

 forming a considerable part of the chaiacteristic vegetation of such ))lace3. The most obvious 

 specifie°characters are drawn in many cases from the fruiting bracts, which vaiy much with age ; 

 hence the satisfactory determination of young ilow(;ring specimens may be dillicult. 



• Annuals, somewhat succulent and mealy : leaves triangular-hastate, large : bracts distinct, 



mostly triangular or hastate, usually foliaceoiis-margined. 



Spikes naked : male flowers small : lower leaves opposite : seed a line 



broad. On the coast. . 1. A. patula. 



Flowers axillary, subdirecio\is ; male calyx larger, 5-parted : leaves 



nlteniate, entire ; styles included : s'eed small. Interior. 2. A. I'HVM.Ostk/ma. 



Spikes naked : calyx large, 4-i)arted : leaves alternate, coarsely toothed : 



styles exserted : .seed miiuite. Interior. 3. A. .sncAiA. 



♦ ♦ Annuals, not succulent, mealy or scurfy : leaves smaller : bracts not greatly enlarged, more 



or less united, sessile, rarely triangular or hastate. 



Fruiting bracts very small, ovate, entire, not margined or appendaged. 



Low, very slender : leaves ovate to oblong. 4. A. I'UsiLLA. 



Fruiting bracts small, cuneate or rouiuled, herbaceously margined and 

 toothed : leaves alternate, not triangular or hastate, 

 l^racts cuneate-orbicular, not margined below the nuddle, 



The truncate summit .shortly 3-toothed : leaves cordate-ovate, en- 

 tire : erect, rather stoiit. S. A. iltUKCATA. 

 Summit rounded, shortly 3 - 7-tootheil : leaves oblong, small, en- 

 tire : ileeumbent, slender. «• A. MlcKorAlil'A. 

 Margin rounded, gash-toollied : leaves lanceolate, sinuate-dentate : 



branches spreading, tlexuous. 7. A. liiiACTKuiiA. 



Margin rounded, with short blunt teeth : leaves narrowly lanceo- 

 late, entire : erect, slender, viigate. H. A. CuULTKliI. 

 l^racts orbicular, surrounded by a gash-toot he<l margin. 



Erect, stout : leaves lanceolate, entire : bracts 2 to 2A lines broad. U. A. couoNArA. 

 Fniiting Inacts triangular-cordate, coriaceous, not margined : leaves 



ovate-oblong, ojiposite, sessile : decumbent. 10. A. UECUMltENS. 



Fmiting bracts 2 to 4 lines long, indurated or spongy, rhombic-ovate, 

 united, the convex sides usually conspicuously muricate and 

 the margin toothed. 

 Leaves broad oho vate to ovate-oblong, alternate, entire: decumbent. 11. A. i.iM'Conivi.LA. 

 Leaves triangular-hastate to rhombic-ovate, the lower oi)posite. 



Staminate s}iikes short, dense : leaves petioled. 12. A. Ai'.cKN ika. 



Staminate spikes long and slender: leaves sessile : branches distant. 13. A. kxi'ANsa. 



* * * Perennial, mostly ditecious and woody, densely scurfy : leaves mostly alternate. 



Fruiting bracts snuill, suborbiculaj-. 



Somewhat sjmngv, muricate, margin toothed : erect shrub with small 



entire sessile leaves. 14. A. i-oi.Ycakha. 



