174 XXVII. ZYGOPHYLLE^. 



2. NITRARIA, Linn. 



(First found near nitre-works in Siberia.) 



Calyx snaall, 5-lobed. Petals 5, concave with inflexed points, induplicate- 

 valvate in the bud. Disk not prominent. Stamens 15, rarely 10 to 14, the 

 filaments free, without appendages. Ovary sessile, 2 to 6-celled, terminating in a 

 short thick style, with 2 ■ to 6 adnata stigmas ; ovules solitary in each cell, 

 ascending from pendulous funiculi, which are more or less adnate to their inner 

 face. Fruit a drupe, with a berry-like sarcocarp ; putamen ovoid-acute, hard, 

 marked outside with irregular depressions, and opening at the top in 6 short, 

 pointed valves, of which 8 inner ones ^■maller. Seeds solitary, pendulous, 

 without albumen. — Eigid shrubs, often thorny. Leaves alternate or clustered, 

 undivided, succulent. Stipules small. Flowers small, white, in once or twice- 

 forked scorpioid cymes. 



The genus, besides the widely-spread Australian species, comprises one other from Northern 

 Alrica. The raphe of the seed is described as dorsal by Spach, but we have always found it 

 ventral in the ovary, although the seed sometimes hangs obliquely. — Benth. 



1. N. Schffiberi (after — Schoeber), Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 456; Benth. Fl. 

 Auxtr. i. 291. A rigid, spreading shrub, attaining 3 to 6ft., glabrous or hoary 

 with a very minute down, the smaller branches occasionally spinescent. Leaves 

 from cuneate-oblong to lanceolate or linear, the lower ones obtuse and often lin. 

 long, those of the smaller branches smaller and more acute, all entire, thick and 

 fleshy. Cymes usually shortly pedunculate, the flowers sessile or shortly 

 pedicellate along the scorpioid branches. Petals about 1^ line long. Ovary 8- 

 celled. Drupe varying from ovoid-globular to ovoid-oblong, the putamen from J 

 to more than |in. long, the depressions in the lower part round or oblong, the 

 upper part marked with 6 furrows, along which the valves ultimately ojen. 

 Only 1 seed or very rarely 2 come to maturity. — Andr. Bot. Eep. t. 529 ; N. 

 Billai-dkii, DC. Prod. iii. 456 ; F. v. M. PL Vict. i. 92, t. Suppl. 7 ; N. 

 Olifieri, Jaub. and Spach. 111. PI. Or. iii. 143, t. 295; Zyc/ophyllnm mixtralasicuin, 

 Miq. in PL Preiss. i. 164. 



Hab.: Towards the South Australian border, on saline land, F. v. M. probably. 



The species is spread over the hot, more or less saline, tracts of Western Asia and northern 

 Africa. A careful examination leaves no doubt of the identity so often suggested of the Aus- 

 tralian a,nd northern plants. — Benth. 



8. ZYGOPHYLLUM, .Linn. 



(From the leaves being in pairs.) 



Sepals 4 or 6. Petals as many, flat, contracted into a short claw. Disk 

 concave, angular or cup-shaped. Stamens twice as many as petals, inserted at 

 the base of the disk ; filaments filiform, with an adnate scale or wing-like 

 appendage at the base, which however is wanting in some of the Australian 

 species. Ovary sessile, 4 or 5-angied, narrowed at the top into an angular style, 

 4 or 5-celled, with 2 or more superposed ovules in each cell. Fruit capsular, with 

 4 or 5 angles or vertical wings, indehiscent or separating into cocci or opening 

 loculicidally, the endocarp sometimes separating. Seeds 1 or more in each cell, 

 pendulous ; albumen scanty. — Shrubs or undershrubs, often prostrate. Leaves 

 opposite, with 2 distinct leaflets or rarely 2-lobed, frequently fleshy. Stipules 

 small. Peduncles 1 -flowered, axillary, solitary, or rarely 2 together. Flowers 

 white or yellow. 



A considerable and widely-spread genus, though confined, with one exception, to the Old 

 World, and chiefly numerous in the desert or saline regions of central and western Asia, North 

 and South Africa. The Australian species are all endemic, — Benth. 



