whicli arc veiy widely .diffused, and ofteu variable ; two are natives of Australia, one a common Indian plant, whicli
is found on the tropical shores, and the other the Tasmanian species, which I have vainly attempted to distinguish
from tiie European S. maritima, and which is, I believe, found in all quarters o f the globe, under various names —
oY maritima is a small, busby herb, 1 - 2 feet bigh, with a woody, erect, or prostrate stem, and lierbaceous branches,
covered with linear, subcyliiidrical, sessile, glabrous or farinose leaves, about 4 - I inch long. Flowers small, solitary
or clustered in tbe axils o f the leaves, gi-een, hermaphrodite, bibraeteate. Perianth ureeolate, five-clcft. Stamens
five. Styles two, united at the base. Utriculus membranous. Seed i'ery minutely punctate, horizontal or obliquely
erect, w ith a rather acute margin ; embryo coUed spirally. (Name from Siiwd, an Arabic word for a plant yielding
Soda.)
1. S u a e d a m a r i t im a (Diimort. F lor . B e lg . 2 2 ) ; herbácea, basi suffruticosa, ramosissima, foliis subacutis
supra planis glabris, floribus 2 -3 -g lom e ru Ia tis, perianthio fructifero inflate cariuato, semine horizon-
tali V. suberecto margine subacuto punctulato n itid o orbiculari v . obliquo et rostellato.— F l. N . Z eal. i.
2 1 4 . Chenopodina maritima, Australasiæ, e t tortuosa, Moq. Tand. in B C . P ro d r . xiii. 1 6 1 . Chenopodium
australe, B r . P ro d r . 41)7. {Gunn, 3 9 1 .)
Hab. A b u n d an t on mud aud sh in g le beaches, close to high-water mark.— (FL N o v .) { v . v .)
Dis t r ib . Extratropical shores o f Australia and N ew Zealand ; Europe, Asia, America, and Africa.
IVheu preparing the New Zealand Flora, I compared this plant very closely with the European, and believed
it to be entirely the same, and I have now again examined it with the same result. The utriculus, though generally
depressed, and containing a horizontal orbicular seed, is occasionally obliquely ascending or suberect, when
the seed is also oiilique and rosteUate at the hilum.
Gen. T L SA L IC O R N IA , L .
F lo re s hermaphroditi, ebracteati. P e ria n th ium carnosum, turbinatum, rhacbeos excavationibus im mersum.
S tam in a 1 - 2 , fundo perianthii inserta. O van um , stylis 2 , subulatis, basi connatis. U triculus
perianthio in clu su s. Semen erectum v . su b horizontale ; albumine carnoso ; embryone cyclico.— Herbæ i;.
suffrutices a p h y lla , s a ls a ; caule erecto v . p r o s tr a to ; ramis a rtieu la tis .
Several species o f this curious and widely-spread genus are natives of Australia, including the genera Arthroc-
nemum and Haliocnemum, which are so extremely similar, and differ in such minute characters only, that it does not
seem natural to separate them generically.— Leafless succulent herbs or small shrubs, growing in salt-marshes, and
having woody or herbaceous, erect or prostrate stems, and jointed herbaceous branches ; joints generally cyiindrical
below, and dilated and truncate above. Floicers hermaphrodite, very inconspicuous, sunk in tbe substance of the
joints, w'bicb are often short, and crowded towards the ends of the branches, forining a sort of cone. Perianth
ebracteate, ureeolate. Stamens 1 -2 , Ovary with two styles, which are connate at the base. F ru it a membranous
utriculus, sunk in the bottom of the perianth, with one erect or vertically depressed seed. (Name from sal, salt,
and cornu, a horn.)
1 . S a l i c o r n i a A r b u s c u l a (Br. Prodr. 4 1 1 ) ; caule suberecto subgracili lign o so ascendente ramosissimo,
ramis su b lign eis, ramulis artieulatis herbaceis, articuiis e longato-clavatis apice infundibuliformibus,
spicis brevibus lateralibus terminalibusque crassis obtusis.— Ajthrocnemum Arbuscula, M o q , Tand. En.
Chenop. 1 1 3 , e t in B C . P ro d r . x iii. 1 5 2 .
H ab. Probably common, b u t I have it only from salt-marshes in th e neighbourhood o f Hobarton and
Clarence P la in s.— (F l. Oct.) {v. v .)
Dist r ib . Tropical and subtropical Australia.
A small rigid shrab, 1 - 3 feet high, with woody, much branched stems, and short, opposite and alternate
jointed brauches. Flowers monandrous, in the shorter terminal joints, which together ibrm a small spike or stro-
bilus about 4 inch long.
2 . S a l i c o r n i a I n d i c a (W illd . N o v . Act. An . H is t. N a t. ii. 1 1 1 . t. 4 . f. 2 ) ; caule procumbente sub-
lign o so articulato, ramis herbaceis ascendentibus, articuiis brevibus elongatisve clavato-cylindraceis com-
pressis obtusis, spicis cylindraceis obtusis, floribus 5 - 7 d ia n d r is .-D r . Proda. 4 1 1 ; W ig h t, To. t. 7 3 7 ;
F l. N . Z eal. i. 2 1 6 . Artbrocnemum In d icum , Moq. Tand. in B C . P ro d r . xiii. 1 5 1 . {Gunn, 3 9 2 .)
Hab. Abundant in stony places near tbe sea, and muddy salt-marshes.— (Fl. N o v .) { v .v .)
Dis t r ib . A ll warm and tropical shores o f Australia, N ew Zealand, Asia, and Africa.
A much smaller plant than S. Arbuscula, of a very different habit. Stems scarcely woody, prostrate, sending
up ascending branches 2 - 6 inehes long; joints generally 4—1 inch long, compressed, but extremely variable in
length and breadth. Spikes o f fiowers generally terminal, very variable in size, 4 - l | inch long, usuaby not much
broader than the branches, but sometimes incrassatecl.— Moquin considers that Brown’s plant is different from the
Indian, relying probably on the large size o f the strobili of the latter ; bnt this appears a very variable cbaracter,
and I find such great differences in the size and habit o f the species, according to age and locahty, that I am
inclined to revert to Mi-. Brown’s opinion (which be stbl maintains), that the Tasjnanian species is the same as
Willdenow’s and the Indian.
N a t . O r d . LXYHII. LAURINEÆ.
O f this eminently tropical N a tu ra l F amily there are two sections, differing markedly in babit, and
somewhat in distribution. T he true L aurineæ, which are arborescent or frutescent, are chiefly American ;
bu t a large number are Asiatic, and a v ery few Sou th and N o r th African. A b o u t a dozen Austraban species
are known, chiefly natives o f tb e tropics, a few advancing sou th to N ew Sou tli Wales, b u t none being
found in South or S ou th -w e st Austraba or Tasmania. T he other sec tion consists o f the genus Cassytha,
which in point o f habit bears th e same relation to L aurineæ tb a t Cuscuta does to Convolvulaceæ, consisting
o f slender, climbing, leafless, parasitic herbs. O f th e se there are very numerous Austrahan species, about
twenty b e in g known to me, o f which the majority inhabit the S ou th -w e st quarter o f th e continent.
Gen. I . C A S SY TH A , D.
P e ria n th ium 6 -fldum, tubo brevi, hmbi laciniis 3 exterioribus parvis. S tam in a 1 2 , duplici serie in serta
; seriei interioris 3 laciniis perianthii interioribus opposita sterilia, 3 iis alterna, basi biglandulosa ;
antheris 2-loculavibus. F ru c tu s tubo sæpe baccato perianthii apice pervii in clu su s.— Herbæ v. suffruticuli
a p h y lla , p a r a s itic a , vo lu h ile s; floribus g lom e ra tis, sp ic a tis, subsessilibusve, 8 -b r a c te a tis ; bracteis p a r v is ,
Twilling, leafless, greeu or yellowish, slender, often thread-like parasites, natives of aU tropical eonntries, aud
climbing over shmbs and herbs, to which they adJiere pavasitically by sessile suckers on them stems and branches.
Flowers sessüe, spiked or capitate. Perianth six-cleft. Stamens twelve, in two rows ; of the six inner three are sterile,
and placed opposite the inner pieces o f the perianth, and the other three have each two glands at the base o f the
filaments. Fruit enclosed in tbe baccate perianth, and crowned with its bmb. (Name, the Greek one for Cuscuta,
which this genus strikingly resembles iu habit.)
•1. C a s s y t h a m e la n t h a (Br. Prodr. 4 0 4 ) ; caule robusto glabro, spicis pedunculatis simplicibus brevibus
su b -6 -floris, floribus late oblongis imbricatis nigro-pubeseentibus. {Gunn, 5 3 3 .)
H ab. Abundant near Launceston, growing principally on Acacias.— (F l. Oct.)
Dist r ib . Victoria and Swan River.
Much the largest Tasmanian species, sometimes covering and strangling bushes thirty feet high. Stems
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