CHEN0P0DIACE4]. 



701 



loose terminal spikes, often branching 

 into a leafy panicle. The ripe perianth 

 forms a hard, angular, often prickly- 

 mass, enclosing a single horizontal 

 seed like that of a Goosefoot. 



On rocks, and in muddy sands by 

 the sea-shore, in Europe, western 

 Asia, and northern Africa, extending 

 northwards to the Baltic. Not un- 

 common on the British coasts. Fl. 

 summer and autumn. The white and 

 red Beets or Beetroot of our gar- 

 deners, and the Mangel Wurzel (Boot 

 of Scarcity) of our agriculturists, are 

 cultivated varieties of this species. 



Fig. 844. 



VI. ORACHES. ATRIPLEX. 



Herbs or undershrubs, often covered with a grey or white, scaly 

 meal ; the leaves flat and alternate, or the lower ones rarely opposite. 

 Flowers small and numerous, clustered in axillary spikes or terminal 

 panicles as in Goosefoot, but always of two kinds ; in some, which are 

 usually males only, the perianth is regular and 5-cleft as in Goosefoot, 

 with 5 stamens ; in the females the perianth consists of two flat seg- 

 ments (or rather, bracts replacing the real perianth), either free or 

 more or less united at the edges, enclosing the ovary. After flowering 

 this false perianth enlarges, is often toothed at the edge, and covered 

 with wart-like excrescences. Seed usually vertical. In some species 

 there are also a few regular female real perianths, which ripen without 

 enlarging, and contain a horizontal seed, as in Goosefoot. Embryo 

 curved round the albumen. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the maritime or saline dis- 

 tricts of the globe, scarcely any species besides the common one being 

 ever found inland, or away from the saline influence. 



Segments of the fruiting perianth united nearly to the top. 

 Leaves all entire and mealy -white. 

 Perennial, or shrubby at the base. Fruiting perianth 



Annual. Fruiting perianth distinctly stalked 



1. Purslane O 



2. Stalked O. 



