CHENOPODIACE^ 115 



2. Blitum, L. 



Flowers bisexual; sepals persistent, fleshy and swollen; 

 styles 2 ; seed-vessel enclosed in the fleshy berry-like 

 calyx. 



B. virgatum, L. ; stem very leafy, flowers green then 

 red, solitary in the axils of the leaves, and forming a 

 long leafy spike; stony places; Southern Switzerland, 

 Tirol, Dauphiny. 



3. Atriplex, Tourn. 



Flowers small, unisexual, without bracts, in clusters 

 collected into branched cymes ; stamens 3-5 ; styles 2 ; 

 leaves alternate; seed-vessel a utricle enclosed in the 

 enlarged calyx. 



The only species of Orache undoubtedly wild in Swit- 

 zerland are A.patula, L., with oblong or oblong-lanceolate 

 leaves ; and hastata, L., with broader more hastate leaves ; 

 both in waste places, the latter rare. 



Order LXXI.— POLYGONACE^. 



Flowers usually bisexual, often pink; sepals 3-6, per- 

 sistent, green or pink ; stamens 5-8 ; ovary superior, 

 i-cdled, i-ovuled; styles 1-3; leaves alternate, usually 

 quite entire, with sheathing stipules (ochreae) ; seed-vessel 

 a nut containing a single seed. A large order, chiefly of 

 temperate regions ; very few alpine species. 



I. Polygonum, L. 



Flowers in terminal spikes or racemes; sepals 5, 

 usually pink ; stamens 5-8 ; stigmas 2-3. 



