CHENOPODIACE^E. 



solitary, lenticular, crustaceous, enveloped in a very thin, mem- 

 branous, close utricle, and covered by the permanent, 5-angled 

 calyx. 



719. C. olidum Curt, lond.v.i. 20. Eng. Bot. t. 1034. Eng. 

 Fl. ii. 14. C. vulvaria Linn. sp. pi. 321. Woodv. t. 145. - 

 Waste ground, common in many places, especially near the sea. 

 (Stinking goosefoot.) 



Root small. Stems several, branched, spreading or prostrate. Whole 

 herb of a dull greyish- green, covered with a greasy mealiness, which, 

 when touched, exhales a strong, permanent, nauseous odour, like stale 

 salt-fish. Leaves stalked, acute, entire, ovate, or slightly rhomboid, 

 not an inch long. Flowers small, in oblong, interrupted spikes. Seed 

 dotted. According to Chevallier this plant exhales pure ammonia, 

 during its whole existence. Notwithstanding its nauseous odour it is 

 still employed as an antispasmodic and emmenagogue, and is constantly 

 to be found in the herb-shops of Covent Garden market. 



720. C. baryosmon Rom. and Sch. vi. 269. Salsola fcetida 

 Delile descr. de lEgypte n. 310. Upper Egypt. 



An undershrub. Branches spreading rather downy; twigs fascicu- 

 late, filiform, whitish, hoary, flattish, about 3-4 inches long, and stand- 

 ing in the room of leaves. Flowers occasionally solitary, but more 

 frequently arranged in slender leafless spikes, which are very numerous, 

 from 2 to 4 lines long, and either spreading or erect. Bracts to each 

 flower 2-3, very small, obtuse, downy. Filaments twice or thrice as 

 long as the calyx, with large yellow anthers. Style simple ; stigma 

 small, bifid. An excessively fetid plant : which Mr. Burnett supposed 

 may be used for the same purposes as the last. 



721. C. Botrys Linn, sp.pl 320. Homer and Sch. vi. 259. 

 Sibthorp Fl. Grcecat. 253. Torrey fl. amer. i. 296. Southern 

 parts of Europe, Siberia, Pennsylvania, in sandy waste places. 

 (Jerusalem oak.) 



An annual. Stem about a foot high, branched, downy, and a little 

 viscid. Leaves stalked, 2 inches long, deeply sinuate, with the seg- 

 ments toothed. Racemes panicled, very large; branches somewhat 

 one-sided. Flowers distinct, on very short pedicels. Seeds smooth, 

 not shining. Torrey. The whole plant is powerfully and agreeably 

 fragrant. It is reported by French physicians to be a valuable expec- 

 torant, and to have been employed with much advantage in catarrh 

 and humoral asthma. 



722. C. anthelminticum Linn. sp. pi. 320. Bart. mat. med. 

 ii. t. 44. Rom. and Sch. vi. 261. Torrey fl. am. i. 296. 

 Sandy fields in the United States. (Worrnseed.) 



A perennial. Stem 1^-2 feet high, erect, much branched, often 

 reddish, furrowed. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, nearly sessile, toothed, 

 and somewhat sinuate, sprinkled beneath with resinous atoms. Ra- 

 cemes long, slender, axillary and terminal. Style 3-cleft. Torrey. 

 The whole plant has a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour. It yields 

 from the seeds an abundance of oil, which, under the name of wormseed 

 oil, is powerfully anthelmintic. The expressed juice, or the leaves or 

 seeds in powder, have similar properties. 



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