GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. 143 



pistil enclosed between a pair of appressed foliaceous bracts, without perianth. 

 Stigmas 2. Bracts either free or united, much enlarged in fruit, the margin 

 becoming more or less dilated or foliaceous and the sides thickened, indurated, 

 muricate or variously appendaged. (The ancient Latin name of these plants, 

 derived originally from the Greek.) 



A. Annuals. 

 Somewhat succulent and mealy; leaves petioled, the lower at least 1 in. long; bracts 

 distinct or nearly so, ovate to rhombic. 



Leaves mostly lanceolate; fruiting bracts 4 to 6 lines long 1. A. patula. 



Leaves triangular-hastate or deltoid; fruiting bracts 1 1 / 2 to 2 lines long.... 2. A. hastata. 



Leaves triangular-ovate; fruiting bracts 1 line long 3. A. spicata. 



Not succulent; leaves less than 1 in. long (except no. 7); bracts more or less united 

 and indurated and nut-like in fruit, the sides smooth, toothed or appendaged. 

 Prostrate, decussately branched throughout; leaves mostly less than l l / 2 lines long.... 



4. A. depressa. 

 Erect or ascending, not decussately branched throughout. 



Leaves cordate-ovate, sessile 5. A. cordulata. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate, short petiolate or mostly sessile.. ..6. A. coronata. 



Leaves broadly or deltoid-ovate, the lower petiolate; plant 2 to 354 ft. high 



7. A. expansa. 

 B. Perennials. 

 Interior species of alkaline flats. 



Diffuse; leaves mostly dentate 8. A. bracteosa. 



Erect and rather rigid; leaves entire 9. A. fruticulosa. 



Seaboard species. 



Stems prostrate, wiry; fruit bracts membranous, compressed 10. A. californica. 



Stems reclining, stout; fruiting bracts spongy, globose 11. A. leucophylla. 



1. A. patula L. Spear Orache. Stout and succulent, erect, 10 to 18 in. 

 high, with few ascending branches; herbage green, only the growing parts 

 somewhat mealy; leaves (the lowest often opposite) lanceolate or linear, some- 

 times with hastate base; inflorescence more or less leafy at base; bracts 

 rhombic-ovate, thick and subcoriaceous, 4 to 6 lines long or more. 



Salt marshes about San Francisco Bay; common. 



2. A. hastata L. Fat-hex. Eather slender, with long (1 to 2% ft.) 

 ascending branches; herbage mealy, scarcely succulent; leaves triangular- 

 hastate or deltoid, entire or sinuate-dentate, 1 to 2 in. long, often as broad or 

 broader, on petioles 3 or 4 lines long; flowers in dense terminal and lateral 

 spikes 1 (or 2) in. long; fruiting bracts triangular ovate, l 1 /? (or 2) lines 

 long. 



Common at the edges of salt marshes about San Francisco Bay. Bracts very 

 variable as to size and either much or little toothed, or entire. Lateral angles 

 of the deltoid leaves often prolonged into salient lobes. 



3. A. spicata Wats. Annual, erect, 12 to 16 in. high; herbage scurfy, 

 the stem below glabrate; leaves triangular-ovate, *£ to 1 in. or more long, 

 irregularly dentate or entire, cuspidate, on petioles 1 to 6 lines long; in- 

 florescence a panicle of spikes; flowers androgynous; spikes dense (sometimes 

 loose), y 2 to 314 in. long; staminate calyx 4-sepalous; bracts of pistillate 

 flowers nearly concealed by the male flowers, ovate, acute, coherent at base, 

 free at apex, in fruit little enlarged and about 1 line long. 



Low alkaline tracts of the interior valleys: Willows; Solano Co.; Livermore. 

 Occasionally exhibits a tendency to become dioecious. Var. laguxita Jepson. 

 Very slender, simple, 5 to 8 in. high; fruiting bracts l 1 /^ lines long. — Lagoon 

 Valley. 



4. A. depressa Jepson. Annual, prostrate, grayish-scurfy; stems slender, 

 1 to 4 in. long, decussately branched throughout ; leaves opposite, sessile, broad- 

 ly ovate, acute, a line or two long; flowers in the axils of the opposite leaves, 



