58 CHEXOPODIACE.E. Spirostachys. 



the branchlets green and fleshy, jointed, with short scale-like leaves. — Syst. Salic. 

 100. Heterostachys, Ung.-Sternb. in Att. Cong. Intern. Bot. 1876. 



The genus was founded upon the one other species, -S". Ritteriana of South America and the 

 West Indies. The generic name has recently been changed by the author to Hclcrostachys, but 

 upon harilly .sufficient grounds. 



1. S. OCCidentalis, Watson. Erect, diffusely branched, 2 to 5 feet high : scale- 

 like leaves broadly triangidar and acute, amplexicaul, often nearly obsolete : spikes 

 numerous, sessile or nearly so, cylindrical, 3 to 10 lines long, densely flowered; 

 bracts rhomboidal, crowded, persistent : flowers slightly exsertetl, at length decidu- 

 ous : seed less than \ line long. — Rev. Chenop. 125. Arthrocnemum macro- 

 stachyum, Torrey, Eot. Mex. Bound. 184. Halostachys occidentalis, Watson, Bot. 

 King Exp. 293. 



Confined to strongly alkaline or saline localities ; frequent in the Great Basin from Northern 

 Nevada to Arizona and Western Texas ; in the San Joaquin Valley, near the Sacramento, Brewer. 



13. SUiEDA, Forskal. Sea Elite. 

 Flowers perfect or rarely polygamous, minutely bracteolate. Calyx 5-cleft or 

 -parted, fleshy ; the lobes unappendaged or more or less strongly carinate or crested 

 or at length somewhat winged, enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5. Styles 2, rarely 

 3 or 4, short and rather thick. Pericarp membranous, free or slightly adherent to 

 the vertical or horizontal lenticular seed. Testa shining, black and crustaceous. 

 Embryo spiral, the radicle exterior. Albumen lateral and scanty or wanting. — 

 Saline herbs or shrubs ; leaves alternate, fleshy, subterete ; flowers axillary along 

 the branches, clustered or solitary, sessile. - — Chenopodina, Moquin. Schoberia, 

 C. A. Meyer. 



A w-idely distributed genus of perhaps 30 or more species. On account of their succulent na- 

 ture the plants are much changed by drying and the specific differences obscured. Besides the 

 following, two or three other species are found on the Atlantic Coast and in the interior. 



* An7iuals. 



1. S. diffusa, Watson. Erect, 1 to 1| feet high, diffusely branched with usually 

 elongated slender flexuous branches, smooth or more or less pubescent, the whole 

 plant green or purple : leaves linear, semiterete, narrow at base, acute or acuminate, 

 a half to an inch long, the floral ones similar but shorter, usually rather distant on 

 the branches : clusters 2 - 4-flowered : calyx cleft to below the middle, not carinate 

 or appendaged : seeds mostly vertical, half a line broad, very smooth. — Eev. 

 Chenop. 88. aS'. maritima, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 294. 



Common in the alkaline valleys of the interior, from N. £. California to the Upper Missouri, 

 and southward to Northern Mexico and the Eio Grande. 



2. S. depressa, Watson. Low and mostly decumbent, branching from the 

 base, with usually sliort ascending leafy branchlets : leaves linear, broadest at base, 

 semiterete, \ to 1 inch long, the floral ones oblong- to ovate-lanceolate or ovate, 

 acute, rather crowded : calyx cleft to the middle .somewhat unequally, one or more 

 of the acute lobes strongly carinate or crested : seed vertical or horizontal, half a line 

 broad, very lightly reticulated. — Bot. King Exp. 294; Rev. Chenop. 89. Salsula 

 depressa, Pursh. 



Var. erecta, Watson. Erect, a foot or two high, with very narrow leaves and 

 narrower bracts. — Rev. Chenop. 90. 



From the Sierra Nevada eastward to the Saskatchewan and Colorado ; near Fort Tejon, Blake. 



S. OCCIDENTALIS, Watson, 1. c, is a similar little known species of N. E. Nevada, erect and 

 slender, with flexuous spreading branches ; leaves linear, narrow at base ; perianth at length sur- 

 rounded by a transverse irregularly lobed wing. 



