BETA.] CEENOPODIACE^. 339 



sepals. Calyx urceolate. Stamens 5, perigynous, filaments subulate. 

 Disk fleshy, annular. Ovary sunk in the disk, depressed ; style short, 

 stigmas 2-4 subulate. 'Fruit adnate to the disk and calyx-base. Seed 

 horizontal, testa thin, albumen floury ; embryo annular. DISTRIB. N. 

 temp. Europe and Asia ; species about 9. ETYM. Uncertain. 



B. marit'ima, L. ; decumbent, clusters of flowers spiked. 

 Muddy, &c., sea-shores, from Fife and Argyll southd. ; Ireland; Channel 

 Islands ; fl. June-Get. Glabrous, perennial. Rootstock branched, tapering 

 into a fleshy root. Stems many, 1-2 ft., branched, angular, striped, tips 

 ascending. Leaves 2-4 in., fleshy, shining, lower rhomboid-ovoid, acute, 

 upper lanceolate ; petiole broad. Spikes 3-^6 in., slender, panicled, clusters 

 2-3-fld., sessile; bracts linear-lanceolate, acute, lower |-d. in.; flowers in 

 diam., green. Sepals incurved, obtuse, keel entire, edges scarious. 

 DISTRIB. From Denmark southd., N. Africa, W. Asia, India. Probably 

 the origin of the Beet and Mangold Wurzel. An excellent spinach. 



3. A'TRIPLEX, Tournef. ORACHE. 



Herbs or shrubs, mealy or scaly. Leaves alternate or opposite, petioled, 

 often hastate, entire or sinuate-toothed. Flowers small, 1 -sexual, 

 ebracteate ; clusters usually in branched cymes. MALE. Sepals 3-5. 

 Stamens 3-5, hypogynous, filaments fililform. Ovary rudimentary. 

 FEMALE. Sepals 2, free or connate. Stamens 0. Styles 2, filiform, con- 

 nate at the base. Utricle compressed, enclosed in the enlarged calyx. 

 Seed compressed, vertical or horizontal, albumen floury ; embryo annular. 

 DISTRIB. Shores and waste places ; species 100. ETYM. The old 

 Latin name. 



SUB-GEN. 1. A' triplex proper. Annuals. Flowers monoecious ; sepals 

 of female united below. Pericarp not adherent to the sepals. Testa 

 crustaceous. Eadicle basal or sublateral. 



1. A. pat'ula, L. ; mealy, stem erect or ascending striped, branches 



spreading, leaves deltoid hastate or rhombic, floral usually broad, fern, sepals 



rhombic or deltoid usually toothed and tubercled or rarely hardened. 



Waste places, manure-heaps, &c., N. to Shetland ; Ireland ; Channel Islands ; 



fl. June-Oct. Very variable, 6 in .-3 ft.., rarely prostrate, less mealy than 



A. lacinia'ta. Female f. mostly mixedi with males, but axillary ones occur 



separately. Fruiting sepals usually |- in. diam., except in sub-sp. Baling- 



to'niij excessively variable in form, length of free portion, toothing and 



sculpture ; base hastate truncate or deltoid. Seeds of two forms, largest 



T V- in. diam., dark brown, much compressed ; smallest ^-y'j, smooth, 



shining. DISTRIB. Most cool (Arctic) parts of the globe, native or 



naturalized. 



A. PAT'ULA proper : erect or ascending, deep green, sparingly mealy, lower 

 leaves opposite rhombic or rhombic-hastate with ascending cusps acute 

 entire or serrate, spikes dense simple leafy below, sepals united at the base 

 only deltoid entire or serrate (var. erec'ta, E.B.), smooth or muricate, Reeds 

 all vertical. A. erec'ta, Huds. Common, extending to India; ascends to 



z 2 



