CHENOPODIACEvE. 



693 



reddish colour, seldom a foot high, and 

 often not above 2 or 3 inches. Leaves 

 linear and succulent as in the shrubby S., 

 but usually longer and sometimes more 

 pointed ; the lower ones often an inch 

 long, the upper ones 3 to 6 lines. Flowers 

 small, green, and sessile, solitary or 2 or 

 3 together in the axils of the leaves. 

 Styles usually 2 only. 



In salt-marshes and maritime sands, 

 in Europe and central Asia, extending 

 northward to the shores of Scandinavia 

 and the Baltic. Common all round the 

 British Isles. Fl. summer and autumn. 



Fig. 833. 



III. SALTWORT. SALSOLA. 



Herbs, with semi-cylindrical, succulent or prickly leaves. Perianth 

 regular, 5-cleft, and enclosing the fruit when ripe, as in Goosefoot and 

 Suceda; but the segments have then a small appendage at the top, 

 forming a horizontal, scarious wing round the perianth. Stamens 5. 

 Styles 2 or 3, often combined at the base, as in Goosefoot. Embryo 

 coiled into a spire, with little or no albumen, as in Suceda. 



The genus comprises a considerable number of maritime species, 

 chiefly from the Mediterranean and western Asia. 



1. Prickly Saltwort. Salsola Kali, Linn. (Fig. 834.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 634.) 



A procumbent, glabrous annual, with a hard, much branched stem, 

 6 inches to near a foot long. Leaves all ending in a stout prickle, the 

 lowest semi-cylindrical, linear, slightly enlarged at the base ; the 

 uppermost shorter and broader, nearly triangular. Flowers sessile in 

 the upper axils. The appendage of the perianth spreads horizontally 

 over the fruit, but usually shorter than the surrounding floral leaves 

 or bracts. 



