the Kew Gardens states that they quite agree with samples 

 of S. pachystachya forwarded to that establishment. 



Differs from S. australis, Banks et Sol., in its shorter and 

 thicker spikes, fewer fertile articles, stamens constantly 2 in 

 each flower, flowers usually 5 in the half -whorl, and in the 

 outer seed-coat, the hairs on the margin of which are straight, 

 obtuse, and so short that they can only be termed papillae. 

 It grows along with S. australis on the banks of the Pata- 

 walonga River, but usually further back from the brackish 

 tidal water. The flowering period is much earlier; in 1920 

 at Glenelg S. pachystachya had ripened almost all its seeds 

 before there was any sign of flowering on S. australis. As the 

 2 species were combined in my description of S. australis in 

 these Trans., xliii., 365 (1919), it will be well to enumerate 

 here the points of difference : — 



S. australis. S. pachystachya. 



Spikes 15-60 mm. long; 4-5 Spikes 12-25 mm. long, when 



mm. thick, diameter not in- ripe 7-8 mm. thick, 

 creased in fruiting. 



Fertile articles 10-20. Fertile articles 4-10. 



Flowers usually in 7's, often Flowers usually in 5's, often 



in 5's or 3's in the upper in 3's in the upper articles, 

 articles, rarely in 9's in the very rarely in 7's in the lower 

 lower articles, and very rarely ones, 

 all in 5's. 



Testa covered on the margin Testa papillose on the margin, 



with long hooked hairs. 



Flowers November - March ; Flowers August - November ; 



fruits April-May. fruits November-January. 



Observations made at Glenelg show that S. pachystachya 

 is proterogynous. This does not agree with European experi- 

 ence of the genus, judging by the statement of Volkens in 

 Engl. u. Prantl, Nat Pnanzenfam. iii., la, 48 (1893). He 

 says: "Was die letztere (Dichogamie) angeht, so besteht 

 Proterandrie ganz sicher bei den Beteae und Salicomieae, 

 Proterogynie ebenso bei den Chenopodieae und Suaedeae." 

 In S. australis, on the other hand, the anthers protrude 

 before the styles in the truly bisexual flowers, but there seems 

 to be a tendency towards unisexualism, the upper flowers of 

 the spike having often sterile pistils, while the lower ones 

 have often sterile stamens, or perhaps in some cases none at 

 all. In both species the perianth opens by two lobes so short 

 and broad that the opening appears little more than a vertical 

 or longitudinal slit in the centre of the truncate summit. 



S. quinqiieflora, Bunge. Through the kindness of the 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Sir D. Prain) 

 I have received the original description of this species from 

 Ungern - Sternberg's monograph "Versuch einer System atik 

 der Salicornieen," p. 59 (1866). From this it appears to have 



