118 



CHENOPODIACEAE (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY) 



The seedlings are innocent-looking, grass-like shoots, divided 

 into two blades, appearing in April, May, and June. The young 

 stalks are tender and succulent, the young leaves an inch or two 

 long with young branchlets in their axils ; at this stage of growth 

 the plant is good forage which cattle and sheep eat greedily. But 

 with the approach of summer w r eather the plants change their 



character : the stem becomes hard 

 and woody, two to three feet high, 

 ridged, and streaked with red lines, 

 diffusely branched and spreading 

 broadly, crowding to death all 

 lesser growth. The first leaves 

 ^ awa y tnose f later growth 

 are not more t^ 311 a half-inch 

 long, mere awl-like spines slightly 

 broadened at base and having on 

 each side a sharp pointed bract 

 which is somewhat shorter. (Fig. 

 72.) Flowers axillary, sessile, and 

 usually solitary, very small, green- 

 ish white or often pink ; calyx 

 five-parted, with five stamens 

 and two styles ; when mature the 

 calyx-lobes are horizontally winged 

 on the back, forming a papery 

 margin which often helps the seed 

 to be carried before the wind, in- 

 dependent of the tumbling of the 

 parent plant. Seed very small, 

 reddish in color, irregular in 

 shape but somewhat like a flattened top, held in place by fine 

 tufts of coiled hair at the base of the persistent calyx, so that 

 only the ripest will fall when the plant is broken from its hold 

 on the soil and sent tumbling before the wind ; but they continue 

 to ripen and shake loose all winter as the weeds are trundled about. 

 According to the size attained, a thrifty plant may bear ten thou- 

 sand to a hundred thousand seeds, which retain their vitality in 

 the soil for several seasons. 



FIG. 72. Russian Thistle (Salsola 

 Kali, var. tenufolia). X i. 



