SpirostacJnjs. CIIENOPODIACE.E. 57 



fleshy albumen : radicle inferior. — Low branching pale-green annuals ; leaves alter- 

 nate, sessile, mostly narrow ; flowers spicate, solitary in the axils of reduced bracts. 



A genus of 8 or 10 species, of Eastern Europe and Centi'al Asia, a single species also American. 

 1. C. hyssopifolium, Linn. Somewhat floccose- or villous-pubescent, at least 

 wIr'U young, h to U h-et high, erect, rather rigid : leaves linear, f to H inches 

 long, cuspidate ; the floral bracts from linear-lanceolate to ovate, membranously mar- 

 gined : spikes short and close, becoming more or less elongated : central stamen 

 longest, the lateral ones partially developed or wanting : fruit broadly elliptical, 1 L 

 or 2 lines long, narrowly winged, obtuse, often mucronate with the p(;rsistent styles. 



A variable species of wide range, found from Point Barrows and the mouth of the Ma(;kenzic 

 to the Columbia and N. Illinois, and southward through the interior to Chihuahua and New 

 Mexico ; not differing from Old World forms. 



11. SALICORNIA, Tourn. Glasswort. Sampiiiiie. 

 Flowers mostly perfect, deeply sunk by threes in the rhachis of the jointed 

 spike, in tlio axils of cup-shaped decussately opposite bracts, the lateral ones of each 

 cluster lower and often only staminate. Calyx a fleshy rhoniboidal sac with an 

 anterior opening (or formed by two bracts united above and below), enclosing the 

 flower and fruit, adherent by a narrow line to the rhachis, at length thickened and 

 spongy and finally deciduous. Stamens 1 or 2, with large oblong anthers on short 

 filaments, exserted in flower. Styles 2 or 3, short. Pericarp membranous, adherent 

 to the vertical obovate-oblong seed. Albumen very small, lateral : embryo folded, 

 thick, green : radicle inferior. — Low fleshy leafless saline plants, mostly herbaceous, 

 with oppositely branched jointed stems ; spikes cylindrical. 



Eight species or more are recognized, distiibuted over most sea-coasts excepting on the Asiatic 

 side of the Pacific, and in saline localities. The specific characters are obscure, especially in 

 dried specimens, and the species are not easily defined. 



1. S. ambigua, Michx. Perennial and somewhat woody at base, the stems 

 decumbent and rooting at the joints or ascending, a half to a foot long or more, 

 with slender mostly simple branches : spikes slender (usually narrower than the 

 stem), 2- to 1 inch long, short-jointed, with short acute or acutish bracts : flowers 

 nearly equal in height and in fruit nearly equalling the joint : seed pubescent, -J- line 

 long. — Watson, Rev. Chenop. 125. Arthrocnemuyn arahignnm & A. fruticnsum, 

 var. Californicum, Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii^. 151. S. fruticosa, var. amhigua, 

 Gray, Manual, 410. 



On the sea-coast from Oregon to San Francisco, and on the Atlantic side from New England to 

 Florida ; resembling S. fruticosa of the Old World. 



S. HEUBAOEA, Linn. A low annual, erect, branching, with longer jointed spikes ; the middle 

 flower twice higher than the lateral ones. — It is reported as collected in Oregon, and occurs in 

 saline localities in the interior and on the eastern coast ; may be found in N. E. California. 



12. SPIBOSTACHYS, rngorn-Sternberg. 

 Flowers perfect, densely spiked, l)y threes in the axils of spirally ranked fleshy 

 sessile bracts. Perianth of 4 (rarely 5) concave carinate sepals, imbricated and more 

 or less united, becoming somewhat spongy and covering the fruit. Stamens 1 or 2 : 

 filaments slender, at length exserted. Styles 2, rarely 3, usually distinct. Fruit 

 oblong, with membranous free pericarp. Seed vertical, oblong, with double mem- 

 branous testa. Embryo green, nearly surrounding the rather co]>ii)Us albumen : 

 radicle inferior : cotyledons short. — Saline ,shru1)s, witli alternate nakcil braiiclu's. 



