POLYGONACE^. 



705 



5. Frosted Oraehe. Atriplex rosea, Linn. (Fig. 849.) 

 (A. laciniata, Eng. Bot. t. 165.) 



Resembles some of the maritime va- 

 rieties of the common 0., but is much 

 more covered with a white scaly meal ; 

 the leafstalks are much shorter, the floral 

 leaves almost sessile, and the female 

 perianths are mostly clustered in the 

 axils of the leaves, whilst the male 

 flowers are in rather dense spikes, form- 

 ing short terminal panicles. Leaves 

 usually broadly triangular or rhomboi- 

 dal, and coarsely toothed. Fruiting 

 perianths always mealy-white, rather 

 thick, rhomboidal or orbicular, often 

 warted : the segments often united to 

 above the middle, but not so high as in 

 the Purslane O. 



On the seacoasts, and in the saline 

 districts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Fig. 849. 



but not extending to the Arctic regions. 

 Not uncommon round the British Isles. Fl. summer and autumn 



LXI. POLYGONUM FAMILY. POLYGONACE.E. 



Herbs, or, in some exotic species, shrubs, with alternate leaves^ 

 and thin, scarious stipules, forming a sheath or ring round the 

 stem within the leafstalk. Flowers small, herbaceous or some- 

 times coloured, clustered in the axils of the leaves or in spikes or 

 racemes, forming terminal panicles. Perianth of 6, 5, or fewer 

 segments, regular and equal, or the inner ones enlarged. Sta- 

 mens variable in number, never more than 8 in the British species. 

 Ovary free, with a single ovule, but with 2, 3, or more styles or 

 stigmas. Fruit a small, seed-like nut, enclosed in the persistent 

 perianth. Embryo of the seed straight or curved, in a mealy albumen. 



A considerable Order, dispersed over every part of the globe, from 

 the hottest tropical plains to the extreme Arctic regions, or to the 

 highest mountain-summits, close to the limits of perpetual snows. 

 Some tropical species are tall, woody climbers, or erect shrubs, but the 

 majority of the Order are herbs approaching the Goosefoot family 



