582 CHENOPODIACEAE. 



i. Corispermum hyssopifolium I,. Bug-seed. (Fig. 1388.) 



Corispermum hyssopifolium 1,. Sp. PI. 4. 1753. 



Glabrous or pubescent, rather pale green, 

 somewhat fleshy, stem striate, erect, sometimes- 

 zigzag, usually much branched, 6 / -2 tall, the 

 branches slender, ascending or divergent, spar- 

 ingly leafy. Leaves narrowly linear, sessile, 

 Yz'-?.' long, i // -2 // wide, cuspidate at the apex; 

 upper leaves ovate or lanceolate, appressed- as- 

 cending, or at length spreading, acute or acumi- 

 nate at the apex, ]^ f - l /t f long, scarious-mar- 

 gined; utricle i // -2 // long, X // ~ I// thick, nar- 

 rowly winged, obtuse, subacute or mucronate 

 by the persistent styles. 



In sandy soil, shores of the Great I^akes to the 

 Northwest Territory, Arctic America and British 

 Columbia, south to Kansas, Texas and Arizona. 

 .Also in Europe and Asia. The small-fruited form 

 (var. microcarpum S. Wats.) occurs from Kansas 

 southward. July-Sept. 



10. SALIGORNIA L. Sp. PI. 3. 1753. 



Fleshy glabrous annual or perennial herbs, with opposite terete branches, the leaves re- 

 duced to mere opposite scales at the nodes, the flowers sunken 3-7 together in the axils of 

 the upper ones, forming narrow terminal spikes, perfect or the lateral ones staminate. 

 Calyx obpyramidal or rhomboid, fleshy, 3-4-toothed or truncate, becoming spongy in fruit, 

 deciduous. Stamens 2, or sometimes solitary, exserted; filaments cylindric, short; anthers 

 oblong, large; ovary ovoid; styles or stigmas 2. Utricles enclosed by the spongy fruiting 

 calyx, the pericarp membranous. Seed erect, compressed; embryo conduplicate; endo- 

 sperm none. [Name Greek, salt-horn; from the saline habitat, and horn-like branches.] 



About 10 species, natives of saline soil, widely distributed in both the Old World and the New. 

 Only the following are known to inhabit North America. 



Annuals; stem erect. 



Scales very short, acute or blunt; spikes i"-i%" in diameter. i. S. herbacea. 



Scales mucronate-tipped; spikes 2-3" in diameter. 2. 5". Bigelovii.. 



Perennial by a woody rootstock; stems trailing or decumbent. 3. S. ambigua. 



i. Salicornia herbacea L,. Slender Glasswort. (Fig. 1389.) 



Salicornia Europaea var. herbacea "L,, Sp. PI. 3. 1753. 

 Salicornia herbacea I,. Sp. PI. Ed 1 . 2, 5. 1762. 



Annual, 6'-2 tall, stem erect, much branched, 

 the branches slender, ascending or nearly upright, 

 their j oints 2-4 times as long as thick . Scales acute 

 or rather obtuse, \ rf long or less, broadly ovate or 

 wider than long; fruiting spikes 1'-$' long, about 

 \Yz" in diameter; middle flower of the 3 at each 

 joint twice as high as the lateral ones, reaching 

 nearly to the top of the joint; utricle pubescent. 



In salt marshes, Anticosti to Georgia; about salt 

 springs in central: New York; in saline soil from Mani- 

 toba to British Columbia, south to Kansas and Utah. 

 Also in Europe and Asia. The plant often turns bright 

 red in autumn, forming vividly colored areas in the salt 

 marshes, hence called Marsh Samphire. July-Sept. 



