DIOECIA HEXANDRIA 565 



WtU compressed, smooth, greenish, reticulated with whitish veins, embraced by the 

 persistent perianth. 



Hab. Fields : not common. Ft. June. Fr. August. 



Obi. Ibis valuable plant was formerly cultivated to some extent, in this County . 

 but it is now rarely to be seen, here. It requires a rich soil,— and seems to answer 

 Utter in the new and fertile lands of the West. It is the only knmcn species of the 

 genus. 



451. SPINACIA. L. Gen. PL 1520. 

 [Latin, Spina, a thorn; the integument of the seed being often prickly.] 



Staminatb Fl. Perianth single, 5-parted. Pistillate Fl. Peri- 

 anth single, roundish-ovoid, 2 to 4-cleft, sometimes muricate at summit. 

 Styles 4, capillary. Nut roundish-ovoid, somewhat compressed, in- 

 closed in the persistent indurated and sometimes muricate perianth. 



Herbaceous: leaves alternate, without stipules; flowers axillary, glomerate,— 

 the staminate ones in racemose-paniculate clusters. Nat. Ord. 153. Lindl. Caa- 



K0P0DEJE. 



1. S. oleracea, L. Leave s hastate4anceolate, often ificised at 



base, petiolate ; fruit sessile, prickly, or unarmed. Willd. Sp. 4. 



p. 766. 



Pot-herb Spixacia, Vulgo — Spinach, or Spinage. 

 Gill— Epinard des potagers. Germ.-JDer Spinat. Hi*p*-E*pinaca. 

 Root annual. Stem 18 inches to 2 feet high, striate, smoothish, somewhat brancJt- 

 ing, or often simple. Leaves 2 to 3 or 4 inches long, and 3 fourths of an inch to a* 

 inch and half wide, oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire, or repand on the margin, with 

 an acuminate luistate lobe o?i each side, near the base (the lower leaves often indi. 

 fiing to elliptiolanceolate, and not liastate), roughish-dotted, cuneately tapering to 

 a petiole I to 3 or 4 inches in lengtlu Flowers gree?iish,—the staminate ones in 

 small pedunculate clusters, forming, altogether, a kind qf terminal racemose pani- 

 cle, the pi 8t il late ones in dense axillary clusters, pedunculate, or sessile. Frail 

 inclosed in the subglobose persistent perianth, which is scarcely cleft, at maturity, 

 and smoothish or not muricate, in the variety usually cultivated. 



Hab. Gardens : not common. ¥\. June— July. Fr* August— Sept. 



Gbl. The leaves qf this plant are a well known pot-herb— for which purpose it it 

 Hnutimes cultivated, in Ms County. There are no native species in the U. States. 



[Vitis. Nyssa. Pentandria Monogynia."] 



[Panax trifolium. Rhus. Pentandria Trigynia.] 



[Acer Negundo. Octandria MonogyniaJ 



Order 6. Hexandria. 



452. SMILAX. L. Jfutt. Gen. 793. 

 [Greek, Smile, a grater ; in reference to its prickles.] 



Stamiwati Fl. Perianth campanulas, deeply 6-parted. .Anthers 

 adnate to the filaments. Pistillate Fl. Perianth as in the stamin- 

 ate flowers. Ovary superior ; styles 3, minute. Berry globose, 3- 

 celled, I, 2, or 3-seeded. 



48 



