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CHENOPODIUM acutifolium.
Sharp Entire-leaved Goosefoot.
PENTANDRIA Digynia.
G en. ChAr. Cal. 5-cleft, inferior. Cor. none. Seed 1,
lenticular, invested with the closed five-sided calyx.
Spec. Char. Leaves ovate, acute, entire. Stem erect.
Clusters somewhat cymose, elongated, leafless.
S y n . Chenopodium polyspermum. Curt. Lond. fasc. 2.
t. 17. With. 273. Hull. 57. Relh. 102. Sibth. 89.
Atriplex sylvestris, sive Polyspermon. Ger, em, 325.
T h i s is what Mr. Curtis, in general so intelligent and correct
with regard to the species of this difficult genus, has
published as C. polyspermum ; but finding the Linnaean specific
character did not well apply to it, and yet never dreaming
of there being more than one species in question, he very
properly gave it a character of his own. This plant occurs in
fields and waste ground about Battersea, Lambeth, and, as it
should seem, many other parts of England. It is annual, and
flowers in July and August,
The stem is nearly upright, much-branched throughout,
leafy, square. Leaves ovate, acute, entire, rather paler than
in the true polyspermum. Clusters numerous, axillary, the
larger ones imperfectly cymose and spreading; the rest rather
spiked and elongated; all destitute of small leaves. Seed
orbicular, blackish, scarcely dotted.
W e trust we have distributed the synonyms of these two
species justly. It appears from Mr. Davall’s herbarium that
they both grow in Switzerland, and he seems to have suspected
their being distinct.