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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

3. Atriplex, Linn

3. Atriplex, Linn.

Herbs or shrubs, usually more or less mealy or scurfy-tomen-tose. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite. Flowers unisexual, usually in clusters arranged in simple or panicled spikes, the sexes distinct or mixed in the clusters. Male flowers ebracte-page 583ate. Perianth 3–5-partite; segments oblong or obovate, obtuse. Stamens 3–5. Female flowers 2-braeteate; bracts small at first, erect and appressed, distinct or more or less connate, enlarged in fruit and forming a variously shaped 2 - valved covering to the utricle. Perianth wanting or very rarely of 2–5 hyaline segments. Ovary small; styles 2, filiform. Utricle entirely concealed within the base of the greatly enlarged and thickened bracts; pericarp thin, membranous. Seed compressed, vertical or very rarely horizontal; testa thin, crustaceous or coriaceous; embryo annular, surrounding the copious mealy albumen.

A large genus of about 120 species, widely spread through most parts of the globe, but chiefly along sea-coasts or in saline localities. One of the New Zealand species is a weed of probably northern origin, two others are found in Australia, the fourth is endemic.

Erect branching shrub 1–4 ft. high, white with scurfy tomentum. Leaves 1–2 in., oblong, entire. Fruiting-bracts ¼ in., ovate-rhomboid 1. A. cinerea.
Erect or diffuse annual 1–2 ft. high, green or sparingly mealy. Leaves 1–3 in., lanceolate to deltoid, entire or toothed. Fruiting-bracts 1/10–⅛ in., ovate-rhomboid 2. A. patula.
Prostrate, much branched, 3–9 in. diam., white with scurfy tomentum. Leaves ⅛–⅓ in., oblong to orbicular, entire or sinuate. Fruiting-bracts ovoid, very minute 3. A. Buchanani.
Prostrate, glabrous, fleshy, clothed with watery papillae, 6–18 in. long. Leaves ¼–¾ in., oblong, entire or toothed. Fruiting-bracts urceolate. Utricle transverse to the bracts, not parallel 4. A. Billardieri.
1.

A. cinerea, Poir. Encycl Suppl. i. 471.—A small branching shrub 1–4 ft. high, clothed in all its parts with densely appressed white or grey scurfy tomentum; stem woody; branches stout, angled, leafy. Leaves 1–2 in. long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, obtuse, narrowed into a short petiole, quite entire, midrib prominent beneath. Flowers dioecious or almost so; males in dense many-flowered simple or branched oblong spikes, which are often panicled at the ends of the branches. Females in small axillary clusters on the female plant, with occasionally 1 or 2 solitary in the axils of the upper leaves of the male plant. Fruiting-bracts greatly enlarged, about ¼ in. long, broadly ovate-rhomboid, subacute; disc thick and corky, swollen over the utricle, smooth or rarely tuberculate; margins thin. Utricle compressed, at the base of the bracts.— Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zd. i. 214; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 232; Benth. Fl. Austral. v. 171.

North Island: Wellington—Sandy shores of Palliser Bay, Colenso! South Island: Vicinity of Nelson, P. Lawson! Also recorded from Canterbury, but I have seen no specimens from thence.

A common plant in many parts of Australia and Tasmania, and very closely allied to the European and African A. Halimus, Linn.

page 584
2.

A. patula, Linn. Sp. Plant. 1053.—A very variable erect or decumbent or prostrate annual herb 1–2 ft. high, green and smooth, or sparingly mealy-white. Leaves petiolate, 1–3 in. long, lanceolate to broadly triangular-hastate, acute or obtuse, entire or coarsely sinuate-toothed; the uppermost often smaller and linear, the lowest sometimes opposite. Flowers small, monoecious, in clusters arranged in rather slender spikes, often forming narrow terminal panicles; the male and female flowers mixed or occasionally some of the females form separate axillary clusters. Male perianth small, 5-partite. Fruiting-bracts ovate-rhomboid or deltoid, acute, the disc smooth or tubercled; margins toothed or entire.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. zel. i. 215; Handb. N.Z. Fl 232; Benth. Fl. Austral. v. 173.

North and South Islands: Not, uncommon in brackish-water swamps and other places near the sea from the Thames River southwards. December–March.

Now plentiful in almost all temperate parts of the world, either native or naturalised. How far it is indigenous in Australia and New Zealand is now very difficult to determine. The broad-leaved form known as var. hastata is the one most generally seen, but the more slender var. littoralis is also met with.

3.

A. Buchanani, T. Kirk, MSS.—An excessively branched prostrate herb, forming broad depressed greyish-white patches 3–9 in. across; stem woody at the base; branchlets slender, wiry, terete. Leaves shortly petiolate or almost sessile, ⅛–⅓ in. long, oblong or oblong-ovate to suborbicular, rounded at the tip, quite entire, both surfaces densely clothed with white scurfy tomentum. Flowers minute, monœcious. Males in few-flowered clusters in the axils of the upper leaves or terminal, sometimes solitary. Perianth densely farinose, 5-partite; segments oblong, obtuse, incurved at the tip. Stamens 5, exserted; filaments filiform. Females solitary or in clusters of 2–5 in the lower axils, occasionally a few females at the base of the male clusters. Fruiting-bracts connate into an ovoid or almost urceolate 2-lipped cup. Utricle suborbicular, compressed, sunk within the base of the bracts. — Chenopodium Buchanani, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1898) 447, t. 32, f. 1.

North Island: Sea-cliffs near Wellington, Buchanan! Kirk! South Island: Marlborough—The Brothers Rocks, Robson! Canterbury—Near the mouth of the Rangitata, Enys! Otago—Green Island and cliffs on the East Coast, Petrie! saline places in the interior, Maniototo Plains, Ida Valley, Cromwell, Petrie! Centre Island (Foveaux Strait), Kirk! Sea-level to 1800 ft. December–March.

A distinct little species. Some immature specimens in. Mr. Kirk's herbarium from Cargill Cliffs, near Dunedin, are more sparingly branched and have much larger leaves, and may form a separate variety.

4.

A. Billardieri, Hook. /. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 215.—A much-branched glabrous and succulent prostrate herb, everywhere covered with shining watery papillæ; branches 6–18 in. long, spreading on page 585all 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.G. Prodr. xiii. ii. 115.

NoRth Island: On sandy beaches, rare and local. Auckland—North Cape, Buchanan! TakouBay, T. F. C.: Whangaruru, Colenso; Great Barrier Island, Omaha, Kirk! between Tauranga and Maketu, Rev. F. H. Spencer! Anaura Bay (East Cape), Bishop Williams! Stewart Island: Paterson's Inlet, Petrie! Kirk! Chatham Islands: Buchanan. December–April.

A very remarkable species, differing from all others in the fruit being placed transversely to the bracts, not parallel. It is also found in Victoria and Tasmania.