Gomphrma.] 
C. AMARANTACE/E. 
1237 
Spikes ovoid or cylindrical, 3 to 4 lines diameter and some of them above Jin. 
long, sessile and crowded on very short axillary branchlets and surrounded by 
broadly lanceolate herbaceous softly villous floral leaves about as long as the 
spikes. Bracteoles very broad and obtuse, rather longer than the perianth ; 
bracts shorter and more acute. Perianth-segments scarcely 1J line long, woolly 
outside to above the middle, the glabrous white tips very obtuse in the outer ones, 
less so and narrower in the inner. Staminal tube short ; filaments dilated at the 
base, acuminate, without intervening teeth or lobes. Style short. — Iresine macro- 
cephala, Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 342. 
Hab.: Cape Flinders, A. Cunningham. 
8. Gr. diffusa (diffuse), Spreng. Spat. i. 824 ; Bentli. FI. Ausir. v. 257. 
Stems from a perennial often woody stock procumbent, branching, slender, 1 or 
2ft. long, the branches and foliage softly pubescent. Leaves lanceolate, acute, 
contracted into a very short petiole, J to lin. long. Spikes axillary, shortly 
pedunculate, at first ovoid or oblong but lengthening to J or fin. and not Jin. 
diameter, the rhachis pubescent. Bracts and bracteoles obtuse, as long as the 
perianth, the bracteoles broad and readily splitting. Perianth-segments about 
1 line long, quite glabrous, obtuse, scarious with a narrow opaque centre not 
reaching either to the summit or to the base. Staminal tube rather shorter than 
the ovary; filaments short, much dilated, tapering to a point, without intervening 
teeth or lobes. — Philoxerus diffusus, R. Br. Prod. 416; Iresine Brounii, Moq. in 
DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 341. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, B. Brown. 
This has the habit almost as much of Alternantliera as of Gomphrma, but the style is 
decidedly lobed. — Bentli. 
Order CL CHENOPODIACE,®. 
(Salsolacese, Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. ii.) 
Perianth small, with 5 or fewer segments or lobes, herbaceous or rarely thin 
and transparent or somewhat scarious, imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5 or 
rarely fewer, opposite the perianth-segments and usually inserted at or near their 
base ; anthers 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally. Ovary free, 1-celled, 
with a single ovule erect or suspended from an erect funicle. Styles or style- 
branches 2 or three, stigmatic along their whole inner edge or rarely towards the 
end only. Fruit 1-celled and indehiscent, membranous or succulent, enclosed in 
or resting on the persistent perianth which is sometimes enlarged or altered in 
form. Seed solitary, erect or horizontal, usually orbicular and flattened. 
Embryo coiled round a mealy albumen, or spirally twisted without any or with 
scarcely any albumen. — Herbs or undershrubs, often succulent and very frequently 
hoary or white, especially the young parts, with a minute and mealy or more 
dense and scaly tomentum, or in some genera villous or woolly. Leaves alternate 
or very rarely opposite, sometimes none. Stipules none. Flowers small, usually 
sessile and clustered, either axillary or in axillary or terminal dense or interrupted 
spikes or panicles, and often unisexual. Bracts inconspicuous, or, in some genera, 
1 bract and 2 bracteoles more or less conspicuous. 
A considerable Order, spread over the greater part of the world, but most abundant in 
maritime or saline situations in the Old World, a few species, in identical or closely allied 
forms, being quite cosmopolitan. 
Suborder I. Chenopodieae.— Stem not twining. Bracteoles free from the perianth. 
Anthers erect or incurved in hud. 
Series I. Cyclolobeae. — Embryo annular or liorseshoe-like ; albumen copious [wanting in 
Salieornia). 
