68 FOUNDATIONS OF BOTANY 



26. CHENOPODIACE^. GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, without sti- 

 pules. Flowers small, regular, either perfect or more or 

 less monoecious or dioecious. Calyx free from the ovary. 

 Corolla wanting. Stamens usually 5, opposite the sepals. 

 Styles or stigmas generally 2. Fruit with 1 seed, usually 

 enclosed in a small, bladdery sac, sometimes an akene. 



I. SPINACIA, Tourn. 



Herbs. Flowers dioecious, in close axillary clusters. Stami- 

 nate flowers 3-5-sepaled, with 4 or 5 projecting stamens. 

 Pistillate flowers with a tubular 2-toothed or 4-toothed calyx. 



1. S. oleracea, Mill. SPINACH. A soft annual or biennial herb. 

 Leaves triangular, ovate, or halberd-shaped, petioled. Cultivated 

 from Asia as a pot-herb. 



n. CHENOPODIUM, Tourn. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Stems erect or spreading. 

 Leaves alternate, usually white-mealy. Flowers small, green- 



FiG. \\.-Chenopodium. 

 A, flower ; B, fruit. 



ish, in panicled spikes. Calyx 3-5-parted, the lobes often 

 slightly fleshy and keeled. Stamens 5 ; filaments thread- 

 shaped. Styles 2-3, distinct or united at the base. Seed 

 lens-shaped.* 



