TREES AND SHRUBS 67 



peculiar bluntly spiny fruit, and the second by its spinescent 

 branches with their crowded elliptical leaves. Neither is very 

 abundant within our limits, and both are of some slight value 

 as forage plants. 



CHENOPODIACEAE. Goosefoot Family 



The family is a very important one in the arid regions where 

 representatives are numerous both as to species and individuals. 

 They seem particularly adapted to bright sunshine and dry soil and 

 very tolerant of alkali. The bulk of the species are herbaceous 

 "annuals or perennials but there are several low shrubby perennials 

 'that are of importance in one way or another that are included here. 



Embryo spirally coiled; leaves fleshy, linear; 

 flowers monoecious; staminate flowers spi- 

 cate without perianth, pistillate solitary, 



axillary; fruiting calyx winged. 1. Sacrobatus. 



Embryo annular; leaves flat or scale like. 

 Stems of branches jointed, younger parts 

 terete and very succulent; leaves scale- 

 like. 2. Allenrolfea. 

 Stems and branches not jointed; leaves never 

 scale-like, mostly flat and broad. 

 Pericarp and plant densely hairy. 3. Eurotia. 

 Pericarp and plant not densely hairy. 4. Atriplex. 



I. SACROBATUS Nees. Greasewood 



A divaricately branched shrub with linear leaves; staminate 

 flowers naked in aments; pistillate flowers with a saccate calyx 

 ■adherent at the 2-lipped apex to the base of the stigmas; calyx 

 laterally margined with an erect 2-lobed border which finally be- 

 comes a broad, membranous wing. 



A single species in the state. 1. s. vermiculatus. 



2. ALLENROLFEA Kuntze. Burro Weed 



An erect, much branched perennial, somewhat woody at the 



base; leaves scale-like, broadly triangular; flowers in dense spikes 



in threes in the axils of the spirally ranked bracts; whole plant 



succulent. 



A single species in the Lower Scnoran Zone. 1. A. occidentalis. 



