Part 144 (1/2)

1. C. hyssopiflium, L. Somewhat hairy when young, pale; floral leaves or bracts awl-shaped from a dilated base or the upper ovate and pointed, scarious-margined; fruit wing-margined.--Sandy beaches along the Great Lakes, central Neb., Tex., and westward.--Leaves usually pungent.

7. SALICoRNIA, Tourn. GLa.s.sWORT. SAMPHIRE.

Flowers perfect, 3 together immersed in each hollow of the thickened upper joints, forming a spike; the two lateral sometimes sterile. Calyx small and bladder-like, with a toothed or torn margin, at length spongy and narrowly wing-bordered, enclosing the flattened thin utricle.

Stamens 1 or 2. Styles 2, united at base. Seed vertical, without alb.u.men. Embryo thick, the cotyledons inc.u.mbent upon the radicle.--Low saline plants, with succulent leafless jointed stems, and opposite branches; the flower-bearing branchlets forming the spikes. (Name composed of _sal_, salt, and _cornu_, a horn; saline plants with horn-like branches.)

1. S. mucronata, Bigel. Annual, erect, stout, naked below (2--12' high), _turning red_ in age; _spikes thick, closely jointed; scales mucronate-pointed and conspicuous_, especially when dry; _middle flower half higher than the lateral ones_ or less, occupying nearly the whole length of the joint; fruit p.u.b.escent; seed --” long. (S. Virginica, _Gray_, Manual; not _L._)--Sea-coast from N. Scotia to Va.

2. S. herbacea, L. Annual, erect or at length spreading (6--18' high), _green; scales obscure and very blunt_, making a truncate barely emarginate termination of _the longer joints_ of the stem or _elongated narrower spikes_; middle flower much higher than the lateral ones, slightly shorter than the joint; fruit p.u.b.escent; seed {2/3}--1”

long.--Salt marshes of the coast and interior salt springs, and alkaline localities.

3. S. ambigua, Michx. Numerous tufted stems (3--12' long) dec.u.mbent or ascending from a hard and rather _woody creeping base or rootstock_, greenish, turning lead-colored; _spikes slender, short-jointed, the scales short, acutish or acute; flowers nearly equal in height_ and equalling the joint; seed p.u.b.escent, {1/3}” long. (S. fruticosa, var.

ambigua, _Gray_, Manual.)--Sea-coast, Ma.s.s. to Fla. and Tex.

8. SUae'DA, Forskal. SEA BLITE.

Flowers perfect, sessile in the axils of leafy bracts. Calyx 5-parted, fleshy, enclosing the fruit (utricle) and often carinate or crested.

Stamens 5. Stigmas 2 or 3. Seed vertical or horizontal, with a flat-spiral embryo, dividing the scanty alb.u.men (when there is any) into two portions.--Fleshy saline plants, with alternate nearly terete linear leaves. (An Arabic name.)

1. S. linearis, Moq. Annual, prostrate or usually erect, 1--2 high, branched; _leaves narrow at base_, --2' long, acute; floral bracts ac.u.minate, on slender branchlets; sepals very thick; anthers exserted; seed horizontal, round-oval, black, ” broad. (S. maritima, _Gray_; not _Dumort_.)--Sea-coast, N. Scotia to Fla.--A doubtful form of E. Ma.s.s.

has the bracts and shorter leaves obtuse, larger flowers on less slender branchlets, and reddish seeds nearly 1” broad.

2. S. depressa, Watson. _Annual, dec.u.mbent_ or erect, branching from the base; _leaves broadest at base_, the cauline 3--12” long, the floral lanceolate to ovate; one or more of the calyx-lobes _very strongly carinate or crested_.--Saline soil, Red River Valley, Minn., to Col., and westward.

9. SaLSOLA, L. SALTWORT.

Flowers perfect, with 2 bractlets. Calyx 5-parted, persistent and enclosing the depressed fruit in its base; its divisions at length horizontally winged on the back, the wings forming a broad and circular scarious border. Stamens mostly 5. Styles 2. Seed horizontal, without alb.u.men, filled by the embryo, which is coiled in a conical spiral (cochleate).--Herbs or slightly shrubby branching plants of the sea-sh.o.r.e, with fleshy and rather terete or awl-shaped leaves, and sessile axillary flowers. (Diminutive of _salsus_, salty.)

1. S. Kali, L. (COMMON SALTWORT.) Annual, diffusely branching, bushy, rough or smoothish; leaves all alternate, awl-shaped, p.r.i.c.kly-pointed; flowers single; calyx with the converging lobes forming a sort of beak over the fruit, the large rose or flesh-colored wings nearly orbicular and spreading.--Sandy sea-sh.o.r.e, N. Eng. to Ga. Aug. (Eu.) (Addendum)--Salsola Kali. This species has been found in Emmet Co., Iowa (_Cratty_), at Yankton, Dak. (_Bruhin_), and in river-bottoms in N. W.

Neb. and central Dak.

ORDER 88. PHYTOLACCaCEae. (POKEWEED FAMILY.)

_Plants with alternate entire leaves and perfect flowers, having the general characters of_ Chenopodiaceae, _but usually a several-celled ovary composed of as many carpels united in a ring, and forming a berry in fruit._

1. PHYTOLaCCA, Tourn. POKEWEED.

Calyx of 5 rounded and petal like sepals. Stamens 5--30. Ovary of 5--12 carpels, united in a ring, with as many short separate styles, in fruit forming a depressed globose 5--12-celled berry, with a single vertical seed in each cell. Embryo curved in a ring around the alb.u.men.--Tall and stout perennial herbs, with large petioled leaves, and terminal racemes which become lateral and opposite the leaves. (Name compounded of f?t??, _plant_, and the French _lac_, lake, in allusion to the crimson coloring matter which the berries yield.)

1. P. decandra, L. (COMMON POKE or Sc.o.kE. GARGET. PIGEON-BERRY.) Stamens and styles 10.--Low grounds. July--Sept.--A smooth plant, with a rather unpleasant odor, and a very large poisonous root, often 4--6' in diameter, sending up stout stalks at length 6--9 high; calyx white; ovary green; berries in long racemes, dark-purple and filled with crimson juice, ripe in autumn.

ORDER 89. POLYGONaCEae. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.)