614 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



containing a single erect ovule, wliicli is some- 

 times supported upon a more or less long and 

 slender podosperm. The style, which is rarely 

 simple, has two, three, or four divisions, each 

 temiinated by a subulate stigma. The fruit is 

 an akeniura, or a small berry. The seed is com- 

 posed beneath its proper integument of a slender 

 C3'lindrical embryo, curved back upon a farina- 

 ceous endosperm, or spirally twisted, and some- 

 times without endosperm. 



This family is composed of the genera clieno- 

 podium, atriplcx, salsola, beta, salicornia, &c. It 

 is closely connected, on the one hand, with the 

 polygonesE, which differ from it in the stipular 

 sheath of their leaves, their straight embryo, and 

 their superior radicle; and, on the other, with 

 the amaranthacciE, from which, in fact, they 

 differ only in their general aspect, and in some 

 characters of little importance. The chenopo- 

 dese present examples of genera having a peri- 

 gynous insertion, such as beta, blitum, spinacia, 

 and others in greater number, which have the 

 insertion hypogynous, such as rivinia, salsola, 

 camplwrosma, chenopodium, &c. 



The maritime species yield soda, and are em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of barilla. From the 

 root of beta vulgaris, sugar is obtained. The 

 roots and herbage of many species are employed 

 as articles of food. Chenopodium oliditm is 

 remarkable for its disagreeable smell, resembling 

 that of putrid fish. 



AMARANTHACEiE, Browu. ( Part of the Amar- 

 anthacece of Jussieu.) The amaranthacese 

 are herbaceous, or sufFrutescent plants, bearing 

 alternate or opposite leaves, sometimes furnished 

 with scariose stipules. The flowers are small, 

 often hermaphrodite, sometimes unisexual, dis- 

 posed in spikes, panicles, or capitula, and fur- 

 nished with scales, by which they are separated. 

 The calyx is monosepalous, often persistent, 

 with four or five very deep divisions. The stamina 

 vary from three to five. Their filaments are 

 sometimes free, sometimes monadelphous, and 

 occasionally form a membranous tube, lobed at 

 its summit, and bearing the anthers on its inner 

 surface. The ovary is free, unilocular, contain- 

 ing a single erect ovule, sometimes borne upon 

 a very long, recurved podosperm, at the summit 

 of which they hang. The style is simple or 

 wanting, and is terminated by two or three 

 stigmas. The fruit, which is generally sur- 

 rounded by the calyx, is an akenium or a small 

 pyxidium, opening by means of a lid. The 

 embryo is cylindrical, elongated, recurved around 

 a farinaceous endosperm. 



This family is composed of the genera amar- 

 anthus, celosia,gomphrena, acht/ranthes, &c., and is 

 closely allied to the chenopodea;. 



From the amaranthacese are separated certain 

 genera with perigynous stamina, as illecebrum, 

 paronychia, &c.. which, togetlier with some 



others removed from the caryophyllese, form a 

 distinct family under the name of parony- 

 chieae. 



Most of this family are weeds. Several species 

 are used as salads, or pot-herbs. Some are cul- 

 tivated in the flower garden, as the globe amar- 

 anthus, the love-lies-bleeding, and the cock's- 

 combs. 



Nyctagine^, Jussieu. The nyctaginese are 

 herbaceous plants, shrubs, or even trees, with 

 simple, generally opposite, sometimes alternate 

 leaves. The flowers are axillar, or terminal, 

 often collected several together in a common, 

 proper, and calciform involucre. Their calyx 

 is monosepalous, coloured, often tubular, bulg- 

 ing at its lower part, which is often thicker, and 

 persists after the fall of the upper part. The 

 limb is more or less divided into plaited lobes. 

 The stamina vary from five to ten, and are 

 inserted upon the upper edge of a kind of hypo- 

 gynous disk, often in the form of a capsule. 

 The ovary is one-celled, and contains an erect 

 ovule. The style and stigma are simple. The 

 fruit is a cariopsis, covered by the disk and the 

 lower part of calyx, which are crustaceous, and 

 form a kind of accessory pericarp. The true 

 pericarp is thin, and adheres to the proper tegu- 

 ment of the seed. The seed is composed of an 

 embryo, curved upon itself, having its radicle 

 bent back upon the face of one of the cotyledons, 

 and thus embracing the endosperm, which ia 

 central. 



The genera nyctago, allionia, pisonia, boerha- 

 via, &c., belong to this family. Some authors, 

 setting out with the genera whose involucre is 

 uniflorous, as in nyctago, or the marvel of Peru, 

 have considered the involucre as a calyx, and the 

 calyx as a corolla ; but analogy, and especially 

 the genera which have an involucre containing 

 several flowers, prove the_ perianth to be really 

 single. The roots are generally purgative ; most 

 of the species are mere weeds. 



PiANTAGiNiE, Jussieu. A Small family of 

 plants containing only the genera plantago and 

 littorella. The flowers are hermaphrodite, uni- 

 sexual in littorella, forming simple, cylindrical, 

 elongated, or globular spikes; the flowers rarely 

 solitary. The calyx has four deep, persistent 

 divisions, or four unequal sepals, in the form of 

 scales, two of them more external. The corolla 

 is monopetalous, tubular, with four regular divi- 

 sions, seldom entire at its summit. In the genus 

 plantago, the corolla gives attachment to four 

 protruded stamina, which in littorella spring 

 from the receptacle. The ovary is free, with 

 one, two, or very rarely four cells, containing 

 one or more ovules. The style is capillar, ter- 

 minated by a simple subulate stigma, rarely 

 bifid at the tip. The fruit is a small pyxidium, 

 covered by the persistent corolla. The seeds are 

 composed of a proper integument, which covers 



