408 chenopodiace^;. (goosefoot family.) 



8. C. ambrosioides, L. (Mexican Tea.) Smoothish ; leaves slightly 

 petioled, oblong or lanceolate, repand-toothed or nearly entire, the upper taper- 

 ing to both ends ; spikes densely flowered, leafy, or intermixed with leaves ; fruit 

 perfectly enclosed in the calyx. — Waste places : common, especially southward. 

 ( Nat. from Trop. Amer. ) — Passes into 



Var. AXTHELiifNTicuM. (Wormseed.) Root perennial (?) ; leaves more 

 IaAx. « (^strongly toothed, the lower sometimes almost laciniate-pinuatifid ; spikes mostly 

 leafless. (C. anthelmi'nticum, L.) — Common in waste places southward. (Nat. 

 from Trop. Amer.) 



9. C. multifidum, L. Glandular-puberulent, diffusely branched; leaves 

 once or twice pinnatifld, pale ; flowers small in axillary clusters ; calyx only 5- 

 clefl, compressed and completely closed over the glandular-dotted utricle ; seed always 

 vertical. (Roubieva multifida, Moquin, & Ed. 2.) — Waste places, City of New 

 York (the station now seemingly extinct), and Philadelphia. Introduced in 

 ballast from South America, not permanently established. 



3. BLITUM, Tourn. Blue. 



Flowers perfect, bractless. ■ Calyx 3-5-parted, becoming fleshy or berry-like 

 in fruit ; the genus also made to include some with calyx unchanged in fruit. 

 Stamens 1-5: filaments filiform. Styles or stigmas 2. Seed vertical, com- 

 pressed-globular ; the embryo coiled into a ring quite around the albumen. — 

 Herbs, with petioled triangular or halberd-shaped and mostly sinuate-toothed 

 leaves. (The ancient Greek and Latin name of some insipid pot-herb.) 



§ 1. MOROCARPUS, Mcench. Glabrous annuals or biennials, not mealy : flowers 

 in axillary heads, the upper ones often spiked : calyx in fruit commonly becoming 

 fleshy or berry-like, nearly enclosing the utricle. 



1. B. maritimum, Nutt. (Coast Blite.) Stem angled, much branched ; 

 leaves thickish, triangular-lanceolate, tapering below into a wedge-shaped base 

 and above into a slender point, sparingly and coarsely toothed, the upper linear- 

 lanceolate; clusters scattered in axillary leafy spikes; calyx-lobes 2-4, rather fleshy ; 

 stamen 1 ; seed shining, the margin acute. — Salt marshes, New Jersey to Mas- 

 sachusetts: salt springs, at Syracuse, New York (G. W. Clinton), and north- 

 westward. Probably a variety of B. rubrum of Eu. 



2. B. capitatum, L. (Strawberry Blite.) Stem ascending, branch- 

 ing; leaves triangular and somewhat halberd-shaped, sinuate-toothed ; clusters 

 simple (large), interruptedly spiked, the upper leafless ; stamens 1 -5 ; calyx berry- 

 like in fruit; seed ovoid, flattish, smooth, with a very narrow margin. — Dry 

 rich ground, common from W. New York to Lake Superior, and northward. 

 June. — The calyx becomes pulpy and bright red in fruit, when the large clus- 

 ters look like Strawberries. (Eu.) 



§2. AGATIl6PHYTON, Muquin. Somewhat mealy : root perennial: flowers 

 in clusters crowded in a terminal spike : calyx not fleshy, shorter than the half- 

 naked fruit. Intermediate between Blitum and Chenopodium. 



3. B. Bonus-Henricus, Reichcnbach. (Good-King-Henry. ) Leaves 

 triangular-halbcrd-form ; stamens 5. (Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus, L.) — 

 Around dwellings : scarce. (Adv. from Eu.) 



