FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 277 



14. SUAEDA. Seepweed, Quelite-Salado 



Plants mostly perennial, herbaceous or suffrutescent; leaves alter- 

 nate, fleshy, terete or subterete; flowers perfect or some of them uni- 

 sexual, axillary, solitary or in small clusters; perianth 5-lobed or 

 5-parted, fleshy, enclosing the utricle; stamens 5. 



These plants are indicators of moderate to excessive soil salinity. 

 They are browsed to some extent when other feed is scarce. The 

 young plants are used for greens by the Pimas and other Indians, and 

 are sometimes eaten with cactus fruits. Pinole was made from the 

 seeds. The dried leaves were applied to sores by the Hopi. 



The taxonomy of the genus is perplexing. 



Key to the species 



1. Calyx lobes (at least some of them) corniculate-appendaged or winged, unequal ; 

 plant annual, glabrous or very nearly so; steins erect and little-branched, or 

 low and spreading; leaves of the inflorescence broadly lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate 1. S. DEPREssa. 



1. Calyx lobes not appendaged or winged, often carinate or cucullate, equal; 



plants perennial, suffrutescent, green or glaucous; leaves all linear or lance- 

 linear, subterete or somewhat flattened (2). 

 2. Young stems and leaves copiously soft-pubescent; branches stout, commonly 



short and ascending at a narrow angle 2. S. suffrutescex>. 



2. Young stems and leaves commonly glabrous, sometimes puberulent; branches 

 slender, often flexuous, commonly elongate and spreading or ascending 

 at a wide angle 3. S. torre yaxa. 



*1. Suaeda depressa (Pursh) S. Wats, in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 

 5: 294. 1871. 



Salsola depressa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 197. 1814. 

 Dondia depressa Britton in Britt. and Brown, Illus. Fl. 1: 585. 

 1896. 



Not known definitely to occur in Arizona, but both the typical form 

 and var. ereeta S. Wats. (Dondia erecta A. Nels.) have been collected in 

 northwestern New Mexico. Minnesota to Saskatchewan, south to 

 western Texas, New Mexico, and California. 



2. Suaeda suffrutescens S. Wats., Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. Proc. 9: 



88. 1874. 



Dondia suffrutescens Heller, Cat. North Amer. PL 3. 1898. 



Navajo County and eastern Coconino County, 3,200 to 5,000 feet, 

 March to July. Western Texas to Arizona and Chihuahua. 



Dondia ramosissima Standi., the type of which was collected at Lees 

 Ferry, Coconino County (Nelson 62), is perhaps not specifically distinct 

 from S. suffrutescens. 



3. Suaeda torreyana S. Wats., Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. Proc. 9: 88. 



1874. 



Suaeda moquini A. Nels. in Coult., New Man. Rocky Mount. 



170. 1909. 

 Dondia torreyana Standi., North Amer. Fl. 21: 90. 1916. 



Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties, south to Cochise, Pima. 

 and Yuma Counties, 5,000 feet or lower, very common, July to Septem- 

 ber. Alberta to Oregon, south to northern Mexico. 



This form is closely allied to the Old World S.fruticosa (L.) Druce, to 

 which many of the Arizona specimens have been referred. The 

 plants sometimes reach a height of 2.4 m. but are usually smaller. 



