Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/626

586 side of the branch at the top of the joints, packed side by side in a cavity between the joint and the one above, forming an almost complete ring round the branch. Perianth very thick and fleshy, broad and flat and almost quadrangular at the top, narrower at the immersed base; mouth almost closed. Stamen usually one. Utricle obliquely ovoid, membranous. Seed nearly orbicular, slightly compressed; testa crustaceous, minutely hispid; embryo with thick plano-convex cotyledons and an incumbent terete radicle.—''Benth. Fl. Austral. v. 205; S. indica, R. Br. Prodr. 411 (not of Willd.); A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 182; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 866; Raoul, Choix, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 216; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 288. S. quinqueflora, ''Bunge. ex Ung. Sternb. Vers. Syst. Salic.'' 59.

Glabrous herbs or undershrubs. Leaves alternate, fleshy, thick or terete, entire. Flowers minute, sessile or nearly so, axillary, solitary or clustered, usually hermaphrodite; bracts and bracteoles minute, scarious. Perianth short, fleshy, 5-lobed or -partite; lobes or segments equal or unequal, without appendages or more or less carinate or crested or slightly winged, enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5, short. Styles 2–5, short, subulate, recurved. Utricle included in the perianth, membranous or spongy; pericarp thin, usually free from the seed. Seed horizontal, vertical or oblique; testa crustaceous or coriaceous; albumen wanting or scanty; embryo flat, spirally rolled.

1. S. maritima, Dum. Fl. Belg. 22.—A much-branched glabrous erect or diffuse herb, varying in height from a few inches to nearly 2 ft.; stem often hard and almost woody at the base. Leaves sessile, ¼–½ in. long or more, linear, semi-terete or almost cylindric, acute or obtuse, thick and succulent. Flowers small, greenish, solitary or 2–4 together in the axils of the leaves, each flower usually with 1 bract and 2 bracteoles. Fruiting-perianth depressed, about $1⁄12$ in. diam., 5-lobed; lobes ovate-rounded, appressed to the utricle. Utricle membranous. Seed horizontal or very rarely vertical, dark red-brown, shining.—Raoul, Choix, 43; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 214; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 281; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 206. Chenopodium maritimum, ''Linn. Sp. Plant. 221; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 181; A. Cunn. Precur.'' n. 864. Salsola fruticosa, ''Forst. Prodr. n. 181 (not of Linn.).''