II CHENOPODIACE^ 345 



C. murale, a nearly glabrous plant, found in waste 

 places near houses. The leaves are mealy when young. 



0. Bonus-Henricus (Good King Henry). — Stem with 

 bands of green and red, papillose, as is also the under 

 face of the succulent triangular leaves. 



C. urbicum. — The stem has alternate bands of green 

 and white. 



Beta (Beet) 



B. maritima. — A glabrous plant with fleshy shining- 

 leaves, and small protandrous flowers in clusters of two 

 or three. This is the origin of the Beetroot and 

 Mangel Wurzel. 



Atriplex (Orache) 



According to Bentham,^ " the flowers are small and 

 numerous, clustered in axillary spikes or terminal 

 panicles as in Goosefoot, but always of two kinds ; in 

 some, which are usually males only, the perianth is 

 regular and 5-cleft, as in Goosefoot, with 5 stamens ; 

 in the females the perianth consists of two flat segments 

 (or rather, bracts replacing the real perianth), either 

 free or more or less united at the edges, enclosing the 

 ovary. After flowering this false perianth enlarges, is 

 often toothed at the edge, and covered with wart-like 

 excrescences. Seeds usually vertical. In some species 

 there are also a few regular female real perianths, which 

 ripen without enlarging, and contain a horizontal seed, 

 as in Goosefoot." The species, of which we have five, 

 are found on shores and in waste places. The plants 

 are generally more or less covered with mealy hairs. 



A. hortensis. — The fruit is an utricle, much com- 

 pressed, and concave on the sides, one-celled, one-seeded. 

 It is enclosed in two orbicular, or nearly orbicular, 

 bracts, which are connate at the base, aurescent, and 

 probably serve to disperse the seeds. The seeds are of 

 two kinds. Some are small and black, with a rather 

 thick, crustaceous, smooth, and shining coat ; the others 

 are larger, brown, and more orbicular, with a thin, 



^ Sandboolc of the British Flora, vol. ii. 



