CHENOPODIACE/E. 



691 



The Spinageof our gardens (Spinacia oleracea), probably from west- 

 ern Asia, forms a genus closely allied to Orache, but with a differently- 

 shaped fruiting perianth, and 4 styles. One or two species of Amaranth, 

 belonging to the above-mentioned Amaranth family, have occasionally 

 appeared amongst garden weeds in the neighbourhood of London, but 

 do not appear to have anywhere established themselves in Britain. 

 The same Amaranth family includes the Love-lies-bleeding and Prince s- 

 feather (both species of Amarantus), the globe Amaranth (a species 

 of Gomphrena), the CocFs-comb (Celosia), etc., of our gardens. 



I. SAIiICORN. SALICORNIA. 



Succulent, jointed herbs, sometimes hard and woody at the base, 

 without leaves. Flowers immersed in the upper articles (or inter- 

 nodes), forming terminal, succulent, cylindrical spikes, each article 

 having 6 flowers, 3 in a triangle on each side. Perianth succulent, flat, 

 and nearly closed at the top ; the stamens (usually 2 or only 1) pro- 

 truding through the minutely 3- or 4-toothed orifice. Style included 

 in the perianth, divided into 2 or 3 stigmas. Nut enclosed in the 

 unchanged, succulent perianth. Seed ovoid, without albumen. Ra- 

 dicle bent back over the cotyledons. 



A genus of very few species, ranging over the salt-marshes of all 

 parts of the world. 



1. Common Salicorn. Salieornia herbacea, Linn. (Fig. 831.) 



(S. annua, Eng. Bot. t. 415, S. radicans, t. 1691, S.fruiicosa, t. 2467, 

 and S. procumbens, t. 2475. Glasswort.) 



In its simplest form this is a glabrous, 

 bright green, succulent, erect annual, 

 scarcely 6 inches high, with few erect 

 branches, each one terminated by a spike 

 of \ to 1 inch long. When luxuriant, 

 after the first flowering, branches shoot 

 out from every joint or node as well as 

 from the spike itself; the lower ones be- 

 come hard, and often procumbent, and 

 rooting at the nodes, and the whole 

 plant will extend to a foot or more ; and 

 in favourable situations a few plants will 

 outlive the winter, so as to have the 

 appearance of undershrubs, but pro- 

 bably do not last beyond the second 

 year. 



In salt-marshes and muddy seashores, Fio-. 831. 



