52 SALSOLACE.ZE. 



oblong-spatulate to obovate, ~% — 1% in. long including the slender 

 petiole, obtuse or retuse, often crisped: spikelets axillary, 4 — 5-flowered: 

 bracts subulate, rigid, pungently awned, 1 — 2J^ lines long, the lateral 

 ones reduced or wanting: sepals 3, oblong-lanceolate, subulate-mucro- 

 nate, shorter than the somewhat rugose utricle: seed % line broad, black 

 and shining, very sharply margined. 



* * Stems prostrate; sepals 3 or 1. 



+- Spikelets small, axillary. 



3. A. BiiroiDES, Wats. Somewhat succulent, weak and prostrate, the 

 branches often 1 — 2 ft. long, whitish, the foliage of a rather deep shining 

 green, glabrous or nearly so: spikelets few-flowered and contracted: 

 bracts ovate-oblong, shortly acuminate, about equal, 1 — 1J^ lines long, 

 little longer than the oblong obtuse and mucronulate or acute sepals: 

 utricle smooth, little surpassing the 3 sepals: seed % line broad, abruptly 

 but rather obtusely margined. 



4. A. Californicus (Moq.), Wats. Stems stoutish and rather fleshy, 

 branched from the base, prostrate, the branches 1 — 1% ft. long, with 

 many short lateral branchlets: leaves obovate or oblong, 1 in. long or 

 less, including the short petiole, obtuse or acutish, with white veins and 

 margins: fl. green or purplish, in many small dense axillary clusters: 

 bract more or less scarious, little exceeding the utricle: sepals of stami- 

 nate fl. % line long; of the fertile (1 only) shorter: utricle slightly rugose, 

 tardily circumscissile : seed % line broad, obscurely margined. — In low 

 moist soils. 



+- -k- Spikelets mainly in terminal clusters. 



5. A. dbflexus, Willd. Stems slender, prostrate, 1 ft. long: leaves 

 rather small, rhombic-lanceolate, obtuse, subemarginate, somewhat 

 puberulent, dull-green: spikelets obtuse, some glomerate in the axils of 

 the leaves, others forming a dense terminal thyrsoid cluster: sepals 3: 

 utricle surpassing the calyx, marked with 3 obscure lines : seed black and 

 shining, obtusely margined.— Native of southern Europe; common in 

 some gardens about the Bay. 



Obdeb xviii. SALSOLACE/E. 



Herbs or shrubs, often succulent, glabrous, pubescent, mealy or 

 scurfy, sometimes leafless. Flowers clustered, apetalous. Perianth of a 

 solitary bract-like sepal, or of 2 which are distinct and valvate or more 

 or less united, or of five distinct or united at base and calyx-like, never 

 scarious. Stamens as many as the sepals and opposite to them, or 

 fewer; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, becoming an utricle 

 or achene enclosed in the persistent perianth. Embryo annular or 

 spiral; albumen mealy or wanting. 



