CHESOPODIACEJB. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 301) 



Calif, ii. 48. Blitum capitatum, L. From New Mexico to Washington 

 and the Saskatchewan, also eastward. Sometimes called " Strawberry 

 Blite." 



4. MONOLEPIS, Schrad. 



Flowers polygamous. The single sepal becoming dry in fruit. Styles 2. 

 Pericarp membranous, persistent upon the vertical flattened seed. — Low 

 saline annuals, glabrous or somewhat mealy, with small alternate petioled 

 fleshy leaves. 



1. M. chenopodioides, Moq. Branched from the base : leaves lanceo- 

 late-hastate or sometimes narrowly spatulate, entire or sparingly sinuate-den- 

 tate, cuneate or attenuate at base ; lower petioles elongated : flower-clusters 

 often reddish: pericarp fleshy, becoming dry and minutely pitted. — From 

 Arizona to N. E. California, the Saskatchewan, and Texas. 



5. A TRIP LEX, Tourn. 



Staminate flowers without bracts. The erect bracts of the pistillate flowers 

 becoming enlarged and enclosing the fruit.. Styles 2. Pericarp thin and 

 membranous. — Herbs or shrubs, mealy or scurfy : leaves rarely opposite : 

 flowers usually clustered, axillary or in simple or panicled spikes, the sexes 

 distinct or mingled in the clusters. — Obione, Moquin. For satisfactory 

 determination of the species well-matured fruiting bracts are necessary. 



* Annuals, somewhat succulent and mealy: leaves triangular-hastate, large: 



bracts nearly distinct, triangular or hastate, foliaceous-margined. 



1. A. patula, L. Dark green : leaves lanceolate-hastate, the lower ones 

 opposite, entire or sparingly sinuate-toothed, petioled, the upper lanceolate to 

 linear : flowers in naked and usually somewhat interrupted spikes, the lower 

 clusters axillary : fruiting bracts ovate-triangular or rhombic-hastate, united 

 at base, with a broad herbaceous entire or toothed margin. — Across the con- 

 tinent in salt or brackish localities. Very variable, the following varieties 

 being the best defined within our range. 



Var. hastata, Gray. The lower leaves at least broadly triangular-hastate, 

 entire or toothed with shallow sinuses. — Ranging southward to Central 

 Colorado. 



Var. subspicata, Watson. A low form, usually quite scurfy: leaves 

 lanceolate-hastate, ^ to 1 inch long. — Ranging farther north than the last, 

 from the Missouri to the Saskatchewan. 



* * Annuals, not succulent, mealy or scurfy : leaves smaller: bracts more or less 



united, not triangular or hastate, nor greatly enlarged. 

 -♦- Bracts ovate, entire and not foliaceous nor appendaged. 



2. A. Endolepis, Watson. Leaves thin, lanceolate, sessile, entire : 

 male flowers in short terminal and .axillary spikes, lobes of the calyx with a 

 fleshy crest upon the back ; pistillate flowers solitary in the lower axils, ses- 

 sile : bracts pubescent. — Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 110. Upper Missouri and 

 head-waters of the Yellowstone. 



