88 CHENOPODIACEAE. 



Endosperm little or none; leaves spiny. 116. Salsola, 88. 



Endosperm copious; leaves not spiny. 



Fruit much exserted beyond the envelope. 117. Coriospermum, 88. 



Fruit enclosed by or not longer than the calyx 

 or bractlets. 

 Flowers unisexual; fruit enclosed by two 



bractlets. 118. Atriplex, 88. 



Flowers perfect; fruit enclosed in the calyx. 



Sepal 1, bract-like; stamen 1. 119. Monolepis, 89. 



Sepals 5, united; stamens 5. 



Flowers capitate; calyx fleshy and 



red in fruit. 120. Blitum, 89. 



Flowers in panicles; calyx not fleshy 



in fruit. 121. Chenopodium, 89. 



116. SALSOLA. 



Annual bushy -branched herbs; leaves rigid, subulate, prickle- 

 pointed; flowers sessile, perfect, 2-bracteolate, solitary in the 

 axils, or sometimes several together; calyx 5-parted; stamens 5; 

 utricle flattened, enclosed by the calyx, the segments of which are 

 appendaged by a broad membranous horizontal wing in fruit; 

 endosperm none. 



Salsola kali tenuifolia G. F. W. Mey. Russian Thistle. Much branched 

 from the base, forming hemispherical plants 30-90 cm. or more in diameter; 

 branches striate, often reddish below; leaves linear, bluish-green, sessile, 

 tipped with a sharp point, fleshy at first but becoming dry and stiff, 1-3 cm. 

 long; wings of the calyx persistent, membranous. Introduced about 1898 and 

 now abundant in places. 



117. CORIOSPERMUM. Bugseed. 



Annual herbs; leaves alternate, narrow, entire, 1-nerved; 

 flowers perfect, bractless, small, green, solitary in the upper axils, 

 forming terminal narrow leafy spikes, with the upper leaves 

 shorter and broader than the lower; calyx of a solitary thin 

 broad sepal, or sepals rarely 2 ; stamens 1-3, rarely more and one 

 of them longer; utricle ellipsoid, mostly plano-convex; endo- 

 sperm fleshy. 



Coriospermum hyssopifolium L. Stems spreading, much branched, 30-60 

 cm. high, somewhat pubescent when young; leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 

 cuspidate, glabrous, 2-3 era. long, sessile; spikes dense, 2-4 cm. long; bracts 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, scarious-margined, 5-10 mm. long; akenes 

 broadly ovate or orbicular, short-mucronate, narrowly winged, 3 mm. long. 

 Sandy bars of rivers. 



118. ATRIPLEX. Saltbush. 



Annual herbs, usually mealy or scurfy; flowers in leafy spikes, 

 monoecious or dioecious; staminate with a 5-lobed calyx and 

 mostly 5 stamens ; pistillate of a naked pistil between 2 appressed 

 foliaceous bracts, which are enlarged and sometimes united in 

 fruit. 



