AMARANTHACE^ 39 



along short axillary branches; fruiting bractlets toothed or spiny. Dry 

 or alkaline soil, W. Sask. and Alta. 



3. A. p&tula, L. ; var. hastata, Gray. 



Annual, erect or spreading, 1-2 ft. tall, pale green or slightly scurfy; 

 leaves on slender petioles, the lower broadly triangular, the upper lanceolate ; 

 flowers in interrupted leafy spikes; fruiting bractlets often tubercled. 

 Margins of alkaline sloughs, Man.-Alta. 



4. MONOLEPIS. 



Flower small, calyx of one entire bract-like flesliy sepal; utricle 

 somewhat flattened, containing a very much flattened seed. 



1. M. Nuttalliana, (R. and S.) Wats. 



Stem branched from the base, the lower branches often resting on the 

 ground, pale green, very slightly, if at all, mealy; lower leaves hastate, 

 passing above into leaf-like bracts. Alkaline soil, Man.-Alta. 



5. SALSOLA. Saltwort. 



Flowers perfect I calyx 5-parted ; stamens 5; styles 2. Branching 

 herbs with fleshy linear leaves, at least while young, and sessile 

 axillary flowers. 



S. Kali, L. Common. Saltwort. 



Annual, diffusely branched ; leaves alternate, awl-shaped, becoming stiff 

 and prickle-pointed. Var. Tenuifolia, G. F. W. Mey, Russian Thistle, intro- 

 duced from Europe, has become a most troublesome weed. 



XXV. AMARANTHACE.ffi (Amaranth Family). 



Coarse weedy plants very much resembling the preceding family 

 except that the flower is enclosed in a number (usually 3) of dry 

 persistent bracts, which often change color, making the plant 

 showy. Mostly tropical. i 



1. AMARANTHUS. Amaranth. 



Bracts surrounding the flower 3 ; stamens 2-5, separate; stigmas 

 2 or 3 ; fruit dry, containing one black shiny seed. Coarse annual 

 weeds, or, in one case, an ornamental plant, owing to the coloring of 

 the bracts. 



