Genus 14. 



GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. 



25 



Saltwort. Prickly 

 Fig. 1713. 



I. Salsola Kali L. 



Glasswort. 



Salsola Kali L. Sp. PI. 222. 1753. 



Salsola Tragus L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 322. 1762. 



Salsola caroliniana Walt. Fl. Car. iii. 1788. 



Annual, glabrous or often pubescent, loosely 

 much branched, i''-2° high, the branches ascend- 

 ing or spreading, mostly stout, somewhat ridged. 

 Leaves dull green or grayish, 3"-io" long, suc- 

 culent, lanceolate-subulate, swollen at the base, 

 the midvein excurrent into a stout yellowish 

 green prickle; flowers solitary in the axils; wing 

 of the persistent calyx nearly orbicular, lobed, 

 becoming lacerate, not conspicuously veined, 2"- 

 4" in diameter; calyx coriaceous, veined, its wing 

 about as long as the ascending lobe. 



On sea beaches, Cape Breton Island to Florida. 

 Also in Europe and Asia. Sea- or Salt-grape. Sea- 

 thrift. Russian thistle. Kelpwort. July-Sept. 



2. Salsola pestifer A. Nelson. Russian 

 Thistle or Cactus. Fig. 1714. 



5'. Kah rosacea Pall. 111. PI. 36, pi. 28, f. i. 1803. 



Not 5. rosacea L. 

 5". Kali tenuifolia F. W. Meyer, Chlor. Han. 470. 1836. 

 S. pestifer A. Nelson, Rocky Mt. Bot. 169. 1909. 



Similar to the preceding species, but bushy 

 branched, the branches usually slender. Leaves 

 and outer branches usually bright red at matu- 

 rity ; leaves not noticeably swollen at the base, 

 linear, prickle-tipped, less fleshy; calyx mem- 

 branous, veiny, its wing as long as the ascending 

 lobe or longer. 



In cultivated fields and waste places. New Jersey 

 to Ontario, the Northwest Territory, Kansas and 

 Washington. A very troublesome weed in many parts 

 of the Central and Western States. Naturalized from 

 northern Europe or Asia. July-Sept. 



Family 18. PHYTOLACCACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 213. 1836. 



PoKEWEED Family. 

 Herbs (some tropical species shrubs or trees) with alternate entire mostly 

 exstipulate leaves, and perfect regular polygamous or monoecious usually racemose 

 flowers. Calyx 4-5-parted or of 4 or 5 distinct sepals, its segments or sepals 

 imbricated in the bud. Petals wanting. Stamens as many as the calyx-segments 

 or sepals and alternate with them, or more numerous, hypogynous ; filaments 

 subulate or filiform, distinct or united at the base; anthers 2-celled, the sacs 

 longitudinally dehiscent, often nearly separated. Ovary superior, several-celled in 

 most of the genera; ovules solitary in the cavities, amphitropous. Styles as many 

 as the carpels, short or none ; stigmas linear or filiform. Fruit a berry in the fol- 

 lowing genus, capsular or samaroid in some others. Endosperm mealy or fleshy. 



About 22 genera and no species, mostly in the tropics. 



I. PHYTOLACCA L. Sp. PI. 41. 1753. 



Tall perennial herbs (some tropical species woody), with ample petioled exstipulate 

 leaves, and small flowers in terminal racemes, which by the further growth of the stem 

 become opposite the leaves. Pedicels bracted at the base and often 1-3 bracted above Calyx 

 of 4 or 5 persistent rounded sepals. Stamens S-30, inserted at the base of the calyx; anthers 

 mostly oblong. Ovary subglobose, composed of 5-15 distinct or somewhat united carpels. 

 Fruit a depressed-globose s-is-celled juicy, fleshy berry. Seeds i in each cavity, erect, com- 



