Page:Flora Australiensis Volume 5.djvu/162

 150 XCV. PHYTOLACCACEAE. [Tersonia. irregular horizontal zones. Seeds small, oblong. — Gyrostemon ramu- losus, Lehm. Pl. Preiss. i. 243, not of Desf.; G. angustifolius, Schnitzl. Ic. Fam. Nat. t. 208.* W. Australia. Swan river, Preiss. n. 1234 ; Swan and Murchison rivers, Oldfield. The male specimens described by Moquin belong to Gyrostemon ramulosus, Desf. 2 T.? subvolubilis, Benth. Stems numerous, herbaceous diffuse and flexuose, many of them apparently twining, attaining 1 ft. and more, the flowering branches ascending, slightly scabrous, perhaps viscid when fresh. Leaves small, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute, contracted at the base, rarely exceeding ½ in. and usually few and distant. Male flowers in terminal interrupted spikes, precisely like those of T. brevipes; females unknown. W. Australia. Oldfield river and Phillips Ranges, rare, Maxwell. The female flowers and fruits of this species being as yet unknown, the genus must be in some measure uncertain, but the inflorescence of the males and their general habit agree with none but Tersonia.

Order XCVI. CHENOPODIACEAE. (Salsolaceae, 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 longi- tudinally. Ovary free, 1-celled, with a single ovule erect or suspended from an erect funicle. Styles or style-branches 2 or 3, 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. Of the fifteen Australian genera seven have the general distribution of the Order, the remaining eight appear to be endemic. Tribe 1. Chenopodieae.— Branches continuous. Leaves flat, glabrous, mealy, scaly or glandular. Testa crustaceous Embryo curved round a mealy albumen. Perianths equally 5- or 4-lobed, herbaceous, not much enlarged in fruit. Fruit a small succulent berry. . . . 1. Rhagodia.