518 LXXXV. AMARANTACE^ [Deeringia 



nsnally scarions or rigid, persistent, imbricate in bud. Stamens 1-5, opposite the 

 sepals, filaments often connate. Ovary 1-celled, ovules basal, 1 or more. Seed 

 one, erect, compressed, testa crustaceous, embryo horseshoe-shaped or annular 

 surrounding a mealy albumen. 



Leaves alternate, ovules numerous 1. Deeringia. 



Leaves alternate, ovule 1 Bosia (p. 518). 



Leaves opposite Stilbanthus (p. 518). 



1. DEERINGIA, Eob. Brown; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 714 

 Species 5-6, from Madagascar to Queensland. 



D. celosioides, Eob. Brown ; Wight Ic. t. 728. Vern. Latman^ Hind. 

 Chundri, Dehra Dun. 



A large scrambling shrub, 1. alternate, quite entire, blade 2-4, petiole |-1 in. 

 ri. greenish-white, sepals herbaceous, pedicels short, in racemes 4-10 in. long, 

 forming terminal panicles. Berries scarlet, ^-| in. diam., supported by the 

 spreading sepals. 



Subhimalayan tract and outer Himalaya, from tlie Sutlej eastwards, ascending to 

 5,000 ft. Assam, Khasi hills. Behar, Cliittagong. Upper Burma. Malay Archip. 

 China. Australia. 



Bosia Amherstiana, Hook. f. Bhengoi^ Jauns. N. W. Himalaya 4-7,000 ft. A stout 

 glabrous rambling shrub, 1. alternate, ovate, blade 2-4, pet. J-J in. Fl. small greenish, 

 in terminal and axillary panicles, supported by numerous closely imbricated rounded 

 bracts "witli white margin, perianth herbaceous. Berries bright crimson. 



Stilbanthus scajidens, Hook. f. Sikkim Himalaya 5-7,000 ft. Naga Hills. A large 

 climber, trunk as thick as a man's thigh, covering tall trees witli its masses of white 

 flowers and whitish foliage. Branches obtusely 4-angled, branchlets silky. L. pu- 

 bescent, opposite, elliptic, blade 4-6, petiole J-1 in. Fl. in cylindric spikes, 2-3 in. long, 

 arranged in terminal trichotomously branched panicles. Sepals scarious, striate, 

 shining, J in. long, tip bearded, bracts oval villous. Stamens 5, alternating and at 

 the base connate with long fimbriate staminodes. Ovule 1, pendulous from a long 

 basal funicle. 



Oedee LXXXVI. CHENOPODIACE^. Gen. PL iii. 43. 



Mostly herbs, 1. simple, usually alternate, stipules 0. M. small, usually 

 regular, perianth of 3-5 sepals, stamens opposite the sepals. Stigmas 2-4. 

 Fr. a utricle, enclosed in the often enlarged perianth. 



Nearly all plants of this order are Halophytes, living near the sea shore and inland 

 in saline tracts. As far as known, their roots largely take up salts of Sodium, while 

 most other trees and shrubs mainly take up Potassium salts, though Sodium salts 

 are always present in the soil. Their ashes are rich in Sodium Chloride, and many 

 species were formerly and are still here and there employed to make an impure 

 Carbonate of Soda (JBarilla, Sajji). 



L. usually alternate, branchlets not articulate. 



Fruiting sepals with a large dorsal wing . . .1. Salsola. 



Fruiting sepals not winged 2. Sujeda. 



L. usually opposite, branchlets articulate, fruiting sepals 



with a large dorsal wing ...*.. 3. Haloxylon, 



1. SALSOLA, Linn. ; FL Brit. Ind. v. 17. 



Saline herbs or shrubs, branchlets not articulate, L mostly alternate, often 

 small. Fl. small, usually bisexual, solitary or fasciculate, axillary, each fl. 

 supported by a pair of bracteoles. Sepals 4-5, concave, in fr. enlarged, with 

 a broad dorsal wing, stamens 5, rarely 4, disk usually inconspicuous, stigmas 



