358 



Section 2. Leiosperma. Pericarp horny; 

 seed compressed, the 2 coats very thin 

 and coherent, so as to present the 

 appearance of 1 membranous, smooth 

 seedcoat. 

 Spikes and branchlets stout ; flowers all 



bisexual S. A. leiostachyum 



Spikes and branchlets slender, the spikes 

 very short; central flower bisexual, 

 the 2 lateral male 4. A. arbuscula 



1. A. halocnemoides, Nees in PI. Preiss., i., 632, ann. 

 1844-5. (PL xxxiii.) Shrub 20-120 cm. high, branches erect 

 or intricate, barren articles 3-5 mm. long, slender (2 mm. 

 thick), or stouter (4-5 mm. thick), constricted at each end, 

 both forms of article often occurring on the same plant, lobes 

 inconspicuous; spikes terminal and lateral 10-50 mm. long, 

 usually turning red; fertile articles 6-40, short (2 mm. long, 

 3-4 mm. thick) ; flowers in 3's, all bisexual, fruiting perianth 

 white, spongy, dilated at summit; pericarp hyaline, at length 

 almost disappearing; seed compressed ovate-oblong, 1-1| mm. 

 long, placed obliquely in the pericarp ; testa crustaceous, in 

 the typical form light brown, granular on 'the back, smooth 

 in front ; endopleura membranous ; albumen lateral ; embryo 

 slightly curved, the cotyledons one-third as long as the radicle. 

 — Salicornia arbuscula, Benth. Fl. Aust., v., 203 (1870), ex 

 parte; S. tenuis, Benth., I.e., 204, ex parte (i.e., quod ad ea 

 specimina pertinet, quae auctor feminea censuit). 



S. Australia. Salt lands along Port Adelaide River at 

 Ethelton and Birkenhead (J. M. B., Feb. -April, 1919); Port 

 Pirie (H. W. Andrew, July, 1919); Nilpena (R. Helms, May, 

 1891, "salt soil round spring," in Tate Herb, as S. tenuis); 

 N.W. interior of S. Australia (J. McD. Stuart, in Botanical 

 Museum of Melbourne as S. tenuis); Murat Bay (J. M. B., 

 November, 1915); Port Wakefield (J. M. B., November, 

 1919). 



Victoria. Geelong (H. B. Williamson). 



N. Territory. Finke River (in Phytological Museum of 

 Melbourne as Salicornia leiostachya). 



W. Australia. Fremantle (Preiss., Jan., 1839, No. 

 1910, "in turfosis aqua marina subinde inundatis prope 

 oppidulum Fremantle"); Burswood Island, near Perth 

 (F. W. Wakefield, Jan., 1914, per D. A. Herbert) ; "West 

 Australia" (Drummond, no precise locality or date, in 

 Botanical Museum of Melbourne as Salicornia arbus'cula). 



This species was united by Benthan with Salicornia 

 arbuscula, R. Br., although he gives the number of fertile 

 articles correctly in the latter as 2 to 6, whereas Nees gives 

 them as 8 to 12 for his species. In reality they are much more 



