Flora Medica

CHENOPODIACELflE.with succulent sub-cylindrical leaves.Flowers axillary and sessile.Dorsal appendages of the sepals wing-like. Utricle occasionallyslightly baccate.* #* According to Guibourt the sodas of commerce are furnished bythe following plants. Soda of Alicant which is the finest, by S. saliva,Kali, Soda and Tragus ; it contains from 25 to 40 per cent of Carb.of Soda. Soda of Narbonne, by Salicornia annua L., it contains14-15 per cent, of Carbonate of Soda. Blanquette or Soda ofAignesmortes, procured from a mixture of salt plants, with from 3-8per cent, of the carbonate; finally Normandy Soda, obtained fromFucus.726. S. Kali Linn. sp. pi. 322. Eng. Sot. t. 634. Woodv. 1. 143.Fl. Dan. t. 818. Eng. Pi. ii. 18. Common in Europe and thecolder parts of Asia either on the sandy sea shore, or in ariddeserts.An annual plant, forming a bushy stem, covered with rigid spinychannelled leaves, which are a little dilated, membranous and notchedat the base. Flowers solitary, each with 3 leaf-like bracts. Calyxdilated, membranous, reddish, converging over the fruit,' each sepalwith a small leafy appendage on the outside. Fruit turbinate, winged.727. A. sativa Lsfl.it. 132. Cavan ic. iii. 46. t. 291. Willd.i. 131 1. JR. and S. vi. 236. Coast of Spain, in the kingdom ofValenlia.An annual, with a succulent root. Stem herbaceous, about a foothigh, with spreading, taper, reddish branches, and scattered, numerous,smooth, sessile leaves like those of Sedum. Flowers sessile, axillary,5-7, with 3 minute ovate scales at the base. Calyx very small, butlarger than the bracts, with its lobes by degrees dilated into smallrounded spreading lobes. Seeds small, compressed, spiral. Poiret.728. S. Soda Linn. sp. pi. 323. Willd. i. 1311. Desfont.all. i. 216. Jacq. hort. vind. t. 68. South of Europe, northof Africa, salt-plains of the Crimea, &c.An annual often growing 3 or 4 feet high and falling prostrate by itsown weight. Leaves long, spreading, fleshy, ash-coloured, with 3narrow green lines on the upper side. Within the axil of each leaf aretwo smaller ones which are triangular and keeled. Sepals 5, lanceolate,whitish. Stamens rather longer than the calyx. Styles 2. Ovaryrapidly growing into an urceolate fruit which is depressed at the apex.The full grown calyx very hard, half oval, flattish above, and bordered,5-parted in the middle, falling away with the fruit.729. S. Tragus Linn. sp. pi. 322. Pall, illustr. ii. 37. t. 29. f. 2.R. and S. vi. 227. (Lobel. ic. 797. f. 2.) South of Europe,north of Africa, Caspian and Euxine seas on the sandy shore.A species resembling S. Kali from which it chiefly differs in havingthe calyx after flowering furnished with short dorsal appendages, whichin Kali are longer than the calyx, very broad, round, membranous andtransparent.350