NO. 4H. T NORTHERN APETALOUS FLOWERS. 207 
in autumn, as well as the stem. In ZZwm capitatum (straw- 
berry blite) the reddish calyx becomes bright red and juicy in 
fruit, the globular, axillary heads resembling a strawberry ; in 
Salicornia herbacea the whole plant turns bright red in autumn, 
* forming vividly covered areas in the salt marshes, hence 
called Marsh samphire.” The large converging lobes of 
Salsola kali become rose-colored, and the leaves and outer 
branches of S. zragus also turn bright red at maturity. Many 
of the species are halophytes, most abundant by the sea and in 
the salt marshes of Central Asia and in the basin of the Great 
Salt Lake of Utah. The pollen is dust-like and the flowers 
are anemophilous, or autogamous, though rarely visited by 
pollen-eating flies. Dondia americana has purple-green sepals. 
The red coloration noticed in the two preceding families is 
also highly developed in the Amaranthacee. This is not so 
much observable in our native species as in cultivated forms. 
The foliage of the ornamental Amaranthus is richly variegated 
with deep red, yellow, and green, “and the flowers are dark red. 
In Amaranthus hypochondriacus from Mexico the entire plant 
is tinged with red; while the whole plant of A. melancholicus 
from eastern Asia is purplish. The crests of the flowers of 
Celosia cristata (cockscomb) from India are rose, crimson, yel- 
low, and white; in Gomphrena globosa (globe amaranth) the 
dense round heads are crimson, orange, purple, and white. 
In this family the sepals are — or united at base, or in 
Froelichia form a tube. 
In the Nyctaginacez (four-o’clock family) the calyx is cam- 
panulaté or salver-form, corolla-like, with a deciduous limb. 
The involucre resembles a calyx. The flowers are entomoph- 
ilous and mostly pink or red in northern species; but in 
Abronia fragrans the slender flowers are white, fragrant, open- 
ening at night and adapted to nocturnal Lepidoptera. Florists 
offer yellow, whité, and red varieties of Mirabilis jalapa. The 
. sweet-scented M. longiflora is white, with a tube 15 cm. in 
length and adapted to night-flying Lepidoptera. The limb 
stands edgewise and is designed to render the flower more 
conspicuous in the evening and not as a landing place for 
insects. 
