Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/625

Atriplex.] all sides. Leaves shortly petiolate, ¼–¾ in. long, oblong or obovate, obtuse, entire or sinuate-toothed, very thick and fleshy. Flowers small, monoecious. Males fascicled at the tips of the branches, ebracteate. Perianth 5-partite; segments oblong, obtuse. Stamens 5, exserted; filaments filiform, connate at the very base. Females solitary or 2 together in the axils of the cauline leaves, minute, sessile. Fruiting-bracts combined into a shortly 2-lipped fleshy urceolate cup. Perianth wanting. Styles 2, filiform. Utricle included within the bracts, orbicular, compressed, its edges opposite to the bracts, not parallel, as is usual in the genus; pericarp very thin. Seed red-brown.—Fl. Tasm. i. 315, t. 95; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 232; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 180. A. crystallina, ''Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot.'' vi. (1847) 279. Theleophyton Billardieri, ''Moq. in D.C. Prodr.'' xiii. ii. 115.

Annual or perennial leafless herbs, sometimes woody at the base. Stems cylindric, jointed, very succulent; branches opposite. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite or polygamous, sunk in cavities between the successive joints of the branches towards their tips, 3–7 together, free or connate at the base. Perianth obpyramidal, fleshy, flat at the top or rarely contracted; mouth 3–4-toothed. Stamens 1–2; anthers large, exserted, didymous. Ovary ovoid, narrowed above; styles 2, subulate, papillose. Utricle included in the spongy perianth, membranous, ovoid or oblong. Seed erect,, oblong or obovoid; testa thinly coriaceous or crustaceous, hispid with hooked hairs; albumen wanting; embryo folded, radicle inferior.

1. S. australis, ''Soland. ex Forst. Prodr.'' n. 489.—Stems procumbent or almost prostrate below, sometimes woody at the base, 3–12 in. long; branches numerous, jointed, ascending or erect. Joints ¼–½ in. long, ⅛–⅕ in. diam., terete below, usually faintly compressed above, shortly 2-lobed at the tip, with a narrow chin and membranous margin. Spikes terminating the branches and rather thicker than them, ½–2 in. long, the joints short, broader than long. Flowers frequently polygamous, 5–7 together on each