CHENOPODIACE.E. 537 



Order 86.— CHENOPODIACE^E.— Lindley. 



Calyx deeply divided, sometimes a little tubular at base, persistent, with an imbricated 

 aestivation. Stamens as many as lobes of calyx, or fewer, inserted at their base. Ovary, 

 with a single amphitropal ovule, attached to the base of the cavity. Style rarely simple, 

 in 2 — 4 divisions ; stigmas undivided. Fruit membranous, not valvular, sometimes bac- 

 cate. Embryo annular or horse-shoe shaped, surrounding the albumen ; or in a flat 

 spiral, separating two masses of albumen, or conically spiral without albumen. 



The plants of this order are some of them unisexual and some bisexual, 

 and have very different seeds, and hence it is probable that it will have to be 

 divided. The species now included in it, however, correspond closely in 

 general habit; they are chiefly herbs, rarely under-shrubs, with alternate, ex- 

 stipulate, more or less fleshy leaves, and small flowers. They are found in 

 all parts of the world, but mostly in extra-tropical regions, and frequently in 

 salt marshes. 



Some of them are used as pot-herbs, as the Spinage, Lamb's quarters, and 

 Chard ; and the roots of others form valuable articles of food, as the Beet, in 

 one variety of which the juice abounds so much in saccharine matter, as to 

 be largely used in France for the manufacture of sugar. The seeds of several 

 species of Atriplex are said to be emetic, but the leaves of most of them are 

 edible. All the species of Salsola, Salicornia, &c, afford soda. Campho- 

 rosma monspleliaca is stated by most writers to exhale the odour of Cam- 

 phor, but this is denied by Pallas, and by Merat and De Lens. It was for- 

 merly used in the south of Europe as a diuretic, sudorific, and expectorant, 

 but is now abandoned. Halogeton tamariscifolium, or Spanish worm-seed, 

 has much the same properties as C. anthelminticum. Thelygonum cyno- 

 crambe is a sub-acrid plant, and is slightly purgative. 



Chenopodium. — Linn. 



Calyx inferior, 5-parted, segments ovate, concave ; 5-angled. Stamens as many as the 

 lobes of calyx, and opposite to them ; filaments subulate ; anthers of two round lobes. 

 Ovary orbicular, depressed. Styles two, rarely three, short ; stigmas obtuse. Seed one, 

 lenticular, horizontal, covered by a thin, membranous utricle, and invested by the perma- 

 nent calyx. 



It is principally a European genus, growing in waste places. None of the 

 species have any beauty ; they are herbaceous, and many of them have suc- 

 culent and edible leaves, which form a good substitute for Spinage, some- 

 times, however, acting gently on the bowels. Those growing in salt marshes 

 may be used for making soda. Some of them are possessed of a strong and 

 peculiar smell, and are possessed of important medical properties. Most of 

 these were classed by the earlier botanists under the name of Botrys, but 

 were included by Linnaeus in Chenopodium ; latterly, however, they have 

 again been separated by Spach, under the name of Ambrina, and they cer- 

 tainly are sufficiently distinct to constitute a peculiar genus. This example 

 of Spach would now be followed, were it not that the principal medicinal 

 species is so well known under its former name, that it would lead to confu- 

 sion to attempt a change at present. 



C. anthelminticum, Linn. — Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sinuate, dentate, rugose. Styles 

 three. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 320; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sep. i. 198; Barton, Veg. Mat. 

 Med. ii. t. 42; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. i. 103, t. 21 ; Lindley, Flor. Med. 

 348 ; Griffith, Journ. Phil. Coll. Pharm. v. 177. 



