164 XCVI. CHENOPODIACEAE. [Chenopodium.
shorter than the petioles. Perianth-segments 4 or 5, erect, lanceolate, rather above 1 line long, the points somewhat spreading, the keel much thickened and irregularly angular at the base. Stamen 1. Seed erect, rugose, enclosed in the perianth.— Blitum atriplicinum, F. Muell. in Trans. Vict. Inst. 1855, 133, and in Hook. Kew Journ. viii. 204.
N. S. Wales. Darling desert, Victorian Expedition.
Victoria. Wimmera, Dallachy.
S. Australia. Flinders Range, F. Mueller.
3. DYSPHANIA, R. Br.
Flowers polygamous. Perianth of 1 to 3 minute segments, which
when in fruit are clavate, concave or hood-shaped, white and almost transparent. Stems 1 to 3. Ovary ovoid ; styles 1 or 2, very finely filiform. Fruit ovoid, the pericarp inseparable from the seed. Seed erect testa crustaceous with a very thin membranous inner integument. Embryo circular enclosing a mealy albumen; radicle inferior. — Small annuals. Leaves alternate, flat, entire. Flowers minute, in clusters either all axillary or in terminal spikes, the females numerous, the hermaphrodite ones few in each cluster.
The genus is limited to Australia. It is nearly allied to the section Orthosporum of Chenopodium, but readily distinguished by the remarkable perianth.
Flower-clusters forming a dense terminal leafless spike . . . 1. D. plantaginella.
Flower-clusters closely contiguous but axillary, forming a leafy spike . . . 1. D. littoralis.
Fruiting perianth usually of a single segment. Styles 2. Plant of 3 to 6 in. Flower-clusters all axillary and distinct . . . 3. D. myriocephala.
1. D. plantaginella, F. Muell. Fragm. i. 61. An erect branching annual of 1 to 3 in., slightly glandular-hairy. Stem leaves in the lower part of the plant petiolate, ovate or obovate, obtuse, entire, 2 to 4 lines long. Flowers resembling those of D. littoralis, hut the clusters crowded in dense terminal cylindrical leafless spikes of 1 to 2 in., and consequently occupying the greater portion of the plant. Perianth of 3 obovate-clavate concave segments, about ¼ line long, and falling off with the fruit. Style 1, very deciduous.
N. Australia. Sturl's Creek, F. Mueller.
2. D. littoralis, R. Br. Prod. 411. A small plant apparently annual, although sometimes hard and perhaps fleshy at the base, with ascending branching stems of 2 to 3 in., glabrous or nearly so. Leaves all petiolate, ovate or oblong, obtuse, entire, rather thick and sometimes fleshy, not above 2 lines long. Flower-clusters all axillary, but nearly all close together, forming a terminal leafy spike occupying the greater part of the plant, the lower clusters sometimes rather more distant. Flowers numerous in the cluster, chiefly females. Perianth of 3 or rarely 2 segments falling off together and enclosing the fruit, the segments all equal, obovate, clavate, concave, contracted at the base, about ¼
