412 CHENOPODIACEAE. [Salsola. 
concave, thickened down the back, enlarged in fruit and furnished with a 
horizontal wing or protuberance, completely enclosing the utricle. Stamens 
5, rarely fewer. Styles 2-3, subulate, erect or recurved. Utricle ovoid 
or orbicular; pericarp fleshy or membranous, not adherent to the seed. 
Seed usually horizontal, orbicular ; testa membranous ; albumen wanting ; 
embryo spirally coiled. 
Species estimated at about 40, widely spread in saline localities, but mainly in 
temperate regions. 
1. S. Kali Linn. Sp. Plant. (1753) 222.—A rigid procumbent or diffusely 
branched herb 6-18in. high; stem stout, grooved and angled, scabrid- 
pubescent or almost glabrous; branches spreading, often striped. Leaves 
spreading and recurved, variable in size, 4-lin. long or more, ovate- 
subulate with a rigid pungent point, sheathing at the base, thick and fleshy, 
semi-terete; the uppermost shorter and broader, almost triangular. 
Flowers solitary and sessile in the axils of the leaves, sometimes appearing 
clustered from the reduction of axillary flowering branches, each flower 
with 2 opposite bracteoles; floral leaves and bracteoles all pungent. 
Fruiting-perianth about }in. diam., shorter than the bracteoles, 5-partite ; 
segments rigid and cartilaginous at the base, furnished above with 5 broad 
spreading scarious wings.—Benth. Fl. Austral. v (1870) 207 ; Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 587. 8. australis R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 411; Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Zel. i (1853) 216; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 232. 
Norra anp Sourn Isuanps: Not uncommon on sandy shores from the North 
Cape southwards, but probably introduced. December—March. 
A widely dispersed plant in most temperate and tropical regions, but of very 
doubtful nativity in New Zealand. It is a true native of Australia, however, having 
been gathered by Banks and Solander during Cook’s first voyage. 
Lb 
Family XXXV. AMARANTACEAE. 
Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple and entire, 
exstipulate. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually regular, generally 
arranged in spikes or cymes or clusters, each flower seated within 2 scarlous 
bracteoles and subtended by a larger scarious bract. Perianth inferior, 
persistent, rigid and scarious, often coloured, of 4-5 free or slightly connate 
segments, imbricate in bud. Stamens hypogynous, 4-5, seldom fewer, 
opposite to the sepals ; filaments free or connate, or united with intervening 
staminodia into a cup-shaped ring ; anthers 1- or 2-celled. Ovary superior, 
1-celled ; style long or short, simple or divided into 2-3 branches or separate 
styles ; ovules 1 or more, attached to a slender basal funicle. Fruit usually 
a membranous utricle, rarely a capsule or berry, enclosed or resting upon — 
the persistent perianth. Seeds 1 or more, usually compressed, vertical ; 
albumen farinaceous ; embryo annular or curved. 
_ A moderate family, comprising 48 genera and nearly 500 species, most plentiful 
in tropical or warm countries, absent in cold climates or on the tops of high mountains. 
Some species of Amarantus and Celosia (cockscomb) are often cultivated in gardens, 
but as a whole the order is composed of weedy unattractive plants possessing no useful 
properties. The only New Zealand genus is found in all warm countries. 
