1260 • 01. CHENOPODIACEzB. [Anisacantha. 
and quite glabrous. Leaves linear, semiterete, acute, from Jin. to above Jin. 
long. Flowers closely sessile and semi-adnate as in the preceding species but 
longer. Fruiting perianth 2 to 3 lines long, the tube ovoid, very hard, with 3 
diverging spines, of which 2 (either equal or unequal) varying from J to lin. 
long, the third small, sometimes reduced to a tubercle, sometimes 1 line long ; 
perianth-lobes membranous, obtuse, erect, or indexed. Styles 2, united to above 
the middle into a hard column. Pericarp usually hardened. Seed obliquely 
erect with a superior radicle. — F. v. M. Ic. Sal. PI. 73. 
Hab.: On the inlancUDowns. 
5. A. echinopsila (Echinops-like), F. v. 31. Fragm. vii. 14; Benth. FI. Austr. 
v. 201. A much-branched diffuse or prostrate undershrub, spreading to above 
lft. diameter, the branches ascending to near 6in., or sometimes the whole plant 
not exceeding 2 or Bin., glabrous and somewhat glaucous, or very rarely the young 
shoots slightly pubescent. Leaves narrow-linear, semiterete, mucronate-acute or 
obtuse, mostly about Jin., rarely 4-in. long. Flowers very small, closely sessile, 
with an oblique base. Styles 2, united to the middle into a column hardened at 
the base. Fruiting perianth hard, scarcely 1 line long, the tube often produced 
below its insertion into a small protuberance or short spur ; lobes 5, short, mem- 
branous, with 5 dorsal radiating unequal spines slightly connected in a ring 
round the summit of the tube, the longest rarely above 1 line long. Seed vertical 
or slightly oblique, with a superior radicle. — F. v. M. Ic. Sal. PI. 69 ; Echinopsilon 
anisacanthuiiles, F. v. M. in Trans. Phil. Inst. Viet. ii. 76. 
Hab.: Desert of the Suitor, F. v. Mueller ; Crocodile Creek, Bowman ; Rockhampton, 
O'Shanesy. 
10. THRELKELDIA, R. Br. 
(After Dr. C. Threlkeld). 
(Osteocarpus, F. v. Muell.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth urceolate or cylindrical, hard when in 
fruit, with 4 or 5 short membranous lobes, without any dorsal appendages 
or in one species with 5 small erect spines. Stamens 5 or fewer. Styles 
2 or 3, connate at the base. Fruit enclosed in the perianth, more or less 
depressed. Pericarp membranous. Seed horizontal, oblique or vertical. 
Testa membranous ; embryo annular or nearly so, surrounding a mealy albumen ; 
radicle ascending or level with the cotyledonar end or descending. — Diffuse 
procumbent or trailing undershrubs, quite glabrous or in one species scabrous. 
Leaves narrow, alternate. Flowers solitary in the axils, closely sessile, but not 
obliquely adnate as in Anisacantha. Bracts none. 
The genus is limited to Australia. It has the hard perianth of Scleroltcna and Anisacantha, 
but has either no spines or (in one species) very short erect ones, and differs moreover from 
the former in the want of any cottony wool, and from the latter in the seed. If, however, 
slight differences in the perianth and seed are taken into account, the species might be regarded 
as forming genera. — Benth. 
Perianth with a lavge hollow base below the fruit. 
Perianth 1 to 14 line long, with 5 small dorsal erect spines. Seed 
horizontal 1. T. brevicuspis. 
Perianth 4 to 5 lines long. Seeds vertical 2. T. procerifiora _ 
1. T. brevicuspis (short-pointed), F. c. 31.; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 198. A 
small glabrous undershrub with slender ascending branching stems not 
above 6in. Leaves narrow-linear, semiterete, acute, under Jin. long. Perianth 
very small and campanulate when in flower. Styles 2, connate to the 
middle. Fruiting perianth urceolate, about 1J lines long, hard when dry, with 
5 erect nearly equal dorsal spines shorter than the tube and connected by a 
narrow horizontal ring, constricted under the spines, the whole of the part below 
the constriction consisting of a hollow base, 10-ribbed outside, closed inside 
