POLYGAMIA— MONOECIA. Atriplex. 261 



tirCj or more or less toothed and jagged, turning black in dry- 

 ing, from the abundance of alkaline or marine salt which they 

 contain ; the under side, like the young branches, mealy, or 

 hoary. Spikes erect, obtuse, interrupted, beset with small 

 leaves in the lower part. Fl. numerous, in little dense heads ; 

 those furnished with stamens having scarcely any rudiments of 

 a germeii. Valves of the seed-bearing calyx ovate, acute, deeply 

 sinuated at the margin ; the disk covered with large, prominent, 

 sharp tubercles. Seed rather pointed, compressed. 

 What gives a spiral appearance to the seed of this and other species 

 of Atriplex, as described in FL Br. or Engl. Bot., is the con- 

 voluted form of the embryo, surrounding the cotyledons, which 

 are themselves flat and straight. 



7. A. pedunculata. Stalked Sea Orache, 



Stem herbaceous, zigzag, with spreading branches. Leaves 

 obovate, entire. Seed-bearing flowers stalked, wedge- 

 shaped. 



A. pedunculata. Linn. Sp. PI. 1675. Willd.v.4.966. Fl.BrA095. 

 Engl. Bot. V.4. t. 232. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 6. /. 



A. marina, semine lato. Hoiv Phyt.lS. RaiiSyn. 153. 



A. maritima, Halimus dicta, erecta, semine folliculis membranaceis 

 bivalvibus, in latitudinem porrectis, et utrinque recurvis, longo 

 pedunculo insidentibus, clauso. Pluk. Almag. 61. Phyt.t. 36. 

 f.\. 



Ceratocarpus salinus. Pallas' s Travels, v. 1.291. 



Heart Sea Purslain. Petiv. H. Brit. t.7.f. 3. 



/3. Atriplex maritima nostras, Ocimi minoi-is folio. RaiiSyn. 153. 



On the sea coast, in muddy places, salt marshes, &c. 



Near Boston and Lynn. Plukenet. Plentifully in the isle of Thanet, 

 near the ferry. J. Sherard. On the east bank of the Ouse, just 

 below Lynn, ]778j also at Yarmouth. 



Annual. August, September. 



Root tapering. Herb greyish, all over scaly ; tawny in decay. 

 Stem erect, or reclining, from three to twelve inches high, com- 

 monly branched and bushy, zigzag, leafy, angular. Leaves 

 alternate, obovate, obtuse, entire, leathery or fleshy, tapering 

 down into short footstalks. The jlowers with stamens have no 

 traces of a. pistil; the fertile ones, intermixed with them, and 

 at first likewise sessile, are subsequently elevated on simple 

 stalks, half an inch, or near an inch^ long, becoming enlarged, 

 wedge-shaped, compressed, with two blunt spreading lobes, and 

 enclosing a flat orbicular seed. In this state the plant is easily 

 recognized. 



The small variety, )3, more dwarfish and depressed, is less uncom- 

 mon on our eastern coast than the more flourishing and luxuriant 

 state of the plant. 



