GOOSE-FOOT TRIBE 243 



Sub-class IV 



MONOCHLAMYDE^ 



Flowers having a calyx or corolla, or neither — never both. In 

 this Sub-class it is often doubtful whether the leaves which enclose 

 the stamens and pistils of a flower should be called a calyx or 

 corolla ; the term perianth (from the Greek, peri, around, and 

 anthos, a flower) is therefore used to denote this organ, and must 

 be taken to mean all the leaves, whether resembling sepals or 

 petals, which enclose the other parts of fructification. Used in 

 this sense, and applied to the preceding Sub-classes, the caly.x and 

 corolla would be correctly called a double perianth. 



Natural Order LXV 



CHENOPODIACE^.— GoosE-^FOOT Tribe 



Perianth 5-lobed, not falling ofl' ; stamens 5, rarely i or 2, from 

 the base of the perianth and opposite its lobes ; ovary 1, suj)erior 

 or adhering to the tube of the perianth ; style 2- or 4-cleft, rarely 

 simple ; stigma undivided ; fritit i-seeded, enclosed in the perianth, 

 which often becomes enlarged or fleshy. Herbaceous or somewhat 

 shrubby plants, with leaves which are more or less inclined to be 

 fleshy ; the flowers are small and inconspicuous, the perianth 

 decidedly partaking of the characters of a calyx, which sometimes, 

 as in Atriplex, has a tendency to become "enlarged when in fruit. 

 Some plants have flowers bearing pistils only, others stamens only, 

 and others again both pistils and stamens. They aie common 

 weeds in many temperate climates, and are most abundant in salt 

 marshes and on the sea-shore. Many of the plants of this tribe 

 are used as esculent vegetables — as Spinach, Beet, and Orache. 

 Beet is cultivated extensively in France for making sugar, and a 

 variety of it affords valuable food for cattle under the name of 

 Mangold Wurzel. In Peru the leaves of Chenopodiiim Quinoa, a 

 plant growing at a great elevation, are a common article of food. 

 Many of those kinds which grow in salt marshes and on the sea- 

 shore afford an inmiense quantity of soda. According to some 

 naturalists, Salvadora Persica, belonging to this Order, is the 

 Mustard Tree of Scripture. It bears a juicy fruit, having the 

 flavour of cress, and its seeds are very small. The Mangold Wurzel, 

 the White Sugar Beet of France, and the red garden Beetroot, are 

 aU said to have originated from the wild Beta marititna of sea- 

 shores. Popular garden flowers belonging to this Order are Love- 

 lies-bleeding, Prince's- feather, and Cock's-cotiib. 



I. Chenopodium (Goose-foot). — Perianth deeply 5-cleft, re- 

 maining unaltered, and finally closing over the single seed ; stamens 



