58 CIIEXOrODIACE.E. Spirostachijs. 



the branclilets green and flesliy, jointed, with short scale-like leaves. — Syst. Salic. 

 100. Heterostachi/s, Ung.-Sternb. in Att. Cong. Intern. JJot. 187(i. 



The genus was I'oiiiulcil upon tlie one other species, S. Riltcriana of South America and the 

 West Indies. 'I'iic generic name has recently been changed by the autlior to //dtms^dcAf/s, but 

 upon liardly sullieient giciumls. 



1. S. OCCidentalis, Watson. Erect, difFusely branched, 2 to 5 feet high : scale- 

 like leaves broadly triangular and acute, aniplexicaul, often nearly obsolete: spikes 

 luimerous, sessile or nearly so, cylindrical, 3 to 10 lines long, densely flowereil ; 

 bracts rhomboidal, crowded, persistent : flowers slightly ex.serted, at length decidu- 

 ous : seed less than \ line long. — Rev. Chenop. 125. ArthrocneiHum macro- 

 stacliyum, Torrey, Eot. ^lex. Bound. 184. llalostackijs occidtntalis, Watson, Bot. 

 King Exp. 293. 



Confined to strongly alkaline or saline localities ; frequent in tlic Great Basin from Northern 

 Nevada to Arizona and Western Te.xas ; in tlie San Joaquin Valley, near the Sacramento, Brewer. 



13. SU^DA, Forskal. Sk.a. Bute. 

 Flowers perfect or rarely polygamous, minutely bracteolate. Calyx 5cleft or 

 -parted, fleshy ; the lobes unappendaged or more or less strongly carinate or crested 

 or at length somewhat winged, enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5. Styles 2, rarely 

 3 or 4, short and rather thick. Pericarp mendjranous, free or slightly adherent to 

 the vertical or horizontal lenticular seed. Testa shining, black and crustaceous. 

 Embryo spiral, the radicle exterii)r. Albumen lateral and scanty or ^'anting. — 

 Saline herbs or shrubs ; leaves alternate, fleshy, subtercte ; lU)wers axillary along 

 the branches, clustered or solitary, sessile. — Chenopodlna, Moquin. Schoheria, 

 C. A. :Meyer. 



A widely distributed genus of nerha]>s 30 or more species. On account of their succulent na- 

 ture the jdants are much changed by drying and the speeilie dill'erenees obscuied. i5e.sides the 

 following, two or three other species are ibund on the Atlantic t'uast and in the interior. 



* Aunuah. 



1. S. diffusa, Watson. Erect, 1 to 1.^ feet high, diifusoly branched with usually 

 elongated slender flexuous branches, smooth or more or less juibescent, the whole 

 plant green or purple : leaves linear, semiterete, narrow at base, acute or acuminate, 

 a half to an inch long, the floral ones similar but shorter, usually rather distant on 

 the branches: clusters 2 - 4-flowered : calyx cleft to below the middle, not carinate 

 or appendaged : seeds mostly vertical, half a line broad, very smooth. — Bev. 

 Chenop. 88. .S'. viaritima, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 21)4. 



Connnon in the alkaline valleys of the interior, from N. E. California to the Upj.er Missouri, 

 and southward to Northern Alexico and the Itio (irande. 



2. S. depressa, Watson. Low and mostly decumbent, branching from the 

 base, with usually sluirt ascending leafy brauchlcts : leaves linear, broadest at base, 

 semiterete, \ to 1 inch long, the floral ones oblong- to ovatedancecjlate or ovate, 

 acute, rather crowded : calyx cleft to the middle somewhat une.pially, one or more 

 of the acute lobes strongly carinate or crested : seed vertical or horizontal, half a line 

 broad, very lightly reticulated. — lint. King I'.xp. 21) I ; Hev. Chenop. 81). SaUola 

 depressa, Pursh. 



Var. erecta, Watson. Krecl, a foot or two high, with very narrow leaves and 

 narrower bracts. — Rev. Chenop. DO. 



From the Sierra Nevada eastward to the Saskatchewan and Colorado ; near Fort Tejon, Blalc. 



S. occiDENTAMs, Watson, 1. c., is a similar little known species of N. E. Nevada, erect and 

 slender, with tlexuous spreading branches ; leaves linear, narrow at base ; perianth at length sur- 

 rounded by a transverse irregularly lobed wing. 



