CHENOPODIACE^. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 309 



Calif, ii. 48. Blitum capitatum, L. From New Mexico to Washington Ter- 

 ritory and the Saskatchewan, also eastward. Sometimes called " Strawberry 

 Elite." 



4. MONOLEPIS, Schrad. 



Flowers polygamous. The single sepal becoming dry in fruit. Styles 2. 

 Pericarp membranous, persistent upon the vertical flattened seed. Low 

 saline annuals, glabrous or somewhat mealy, with small alternate petioled 

 fleshy leaves. 



1. M. chenopodioides, Moq. Branched from the base : leaves lanceo- 

 late-hastate or sometimes narrowly spatulate, entire or sparingly sinuate-den- 

 tate, cuneate or attenuate at base ; lower petioles elongated : flower-clusters 

 often reddish : pericarp fleshy, becoming dry and minutely pitted. From 

 Arizona to N. E. California, the Saskatchewan, and Texas. 



5. ATBIPLEX, Tourn. 



Staminate flowers without bracts. The erect bracts of the pistillate flowers 

 becoming enlarged and enclosing the fruit. Styles 2. Pericarp thin and 

 membranous. Herbs or shrubs, mealy or scurfy : leaves rarely opposite : 

 flowers usually clustered, axillary or in simple or panicled spikes, the sexes 

 distinct or mingled in the clusters. Obione, Moquin. For satisfactory 

 determination of the species well-matured fruiting bracts are necessary. 



# Annuals, somewhat succulent and mealy : leaves triangular-hastate, large : 



bracts nearly distinct, triangular or hastate, foliaceous-margined. 



1. A. patllla, L. Dark green : leaves lanceolate-hastate, the lower ones 

 opposite, entire or sparingly sinuate-toothed, petioled, the upper lanceolate to 

 linear : flowers in naked and usually somewhat interrupted spikes, the lower 

 clusters axillary : fruiting bracts ovate-triangular or rhombic-hastate, united 

 at base, with a broad herbaceous entire or toothed margin. Across the con- 

 tinent in salt or brackish localities. Very variable, the following varieties 

 being the best defined within our range. 



Var. hastata, Gray. The lower leaves at least broadly triangular-hastate, 

 entire or toothed with shallow sinuses. Ranging southward to Central 

 Colorado. 



Var. subspicata, Watson. A low form, usually quite scurfy: leaves 

 lanceolate -hastate, to 1 inch long. Ranging farther north than the last, 

 from the Missouri to the Saskatchewan. 



* * Annuals, not succulent, mealy or scurfy : leaves smaller : bracts more or less 



united, not triangular or hastate, nor greatly enlarged. 

 - Bracts ovate, entire and not foliaceous nor appendaged. 



2. A. Endolepis, Watson. Leaves thin, lanceolate, sessile, entire : 

 male flowers in short terminal and axillary spikes, lobes of the calyx with a 

 fleshy crest upon the back ; pistillate flowers solitary in the lower axils, ses- 

 sile: bracts pubescent. Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 110. Upper Missouri and 

 head-waters of the Yellowstone. 



