E. EY TO THE FAMILIES
3. SALSOLA L
Annual herb, densely branched, with rigid awl-shaped leaves; flowers perfect, with 2 bract lets; calyx 5-parted, the segments finally horizontally winged on the
back; stamens usually 5; styles 2; flowers sessile, axillary.
1. Salsola pestifer A. Nels. in Coulter, New Man. Rocky Mount. 169.1909.
Russian thistle.
Sahola tragua of American authors, not L.
Type locality: Not stated.
Range: Widely introduced as a weed in North America; a native of the Old World.
New Mexico: Common at lower altitudes throughout the State.
One of the commonest introduced weeds on waste lands, along roadsides, and to some extent in fields on the open range. In some places it covers cultivated fields
200 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM.
so closely as to appear like a sown crop. It was first noticed about fifteen years ago at Lamy by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, and was called to the attention of one of us at that time. It is now to be found in practically every locality in the State except in the higher mountains. The common name is misleading, since the plant resembles a thistle in no way except in being spiny. The plants when dry break off at the ground and are blown about by the wind as tumbleweeds.1
3. DONDIA Adans. Quelite salado.
Succulent, more or less clammy herbs or suffrutescent plants with inconspicuous flowers and fruits; leaves terete, alternate; flowers sessile in the axils of leaflike bracts;
calyx 5-parted, inclosing the fruit; stamens 5; seed vertical or horizontal.
KEY TO THE SPECIES.
Annuals; one or 2 of the sepals keeled; leaves broadest at the base.
Plant depressed, spreading 1. D. depressa.
Plant erect 2. D. erecta.
Perennials; none of the sepals keeled; leaves narrowed at the base.
Stems and leaves pubescent; leaves broad, short, stout; plants
usually woody at the base 3. D, suffrutescem.
Stems and leaves glabrous; leaves narrow, long, slender; plants
not woody at the base. .. 4, D. moquini.
1. Dondia depressa (Pursh) Britton in Britt. & Brown, Illustr. Fl. 1: 585.1896.
Salsola depressa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 197.1814.
Sumda depressa S. Wata, in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 5: 294.1871.
Type locality: "On the volcanic plains of the Missouri."
Range: Montana and Saskatchewan to Missouri and northwestern New Mexico.
New Mexico: Farmington {Standley 6896). Alkaline soil, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
2. Dondia erecta (S. Wats.) A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 364. 1902.
Suaeda depressa erecta S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 9: 90.1874.
Suaeda erecta A. Nels. in Coulter, New Man. Rocky Mount. 169.1909. * Type locality: Kern County, southern California.
Range: British America to California and New Mexico.
New Mexico: Farmington; Shiprock; Albuquerque; south of Roswell. Alkaline soil, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
3. Dondia suffrutescens (S. Wats.) Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. 3. 1898. • Suaeda suffrutescens S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 0: 88. 1874.
Type locality: "From Western Texas to Southern California and Northern Mex- ico, in saline plains."
Range: As under type locality.
New Mexico: White Mountains; Mesilla Valley; Tularosa; White Sands, Lower and Upper Sonoran Zones,
This is frequently called "yerba de burro" by the Mexican laborers in the southern part of the State, but this probably results from a confusion of the plant with the true burro weed (Allmrolfea occidentalis), which is much less common in the region.
4. Dondia moquini (Torr.) A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 34: 363. 1902.
Chenopodina moquiniTorr. U. S. Rep. Expl. Miss. Pacif, 7a: 18.1856.
Suaeda torreyana 8. Wats, Proc, Amer. Acad. 0: 88.1874.
1 See also, Wooton, E. O. The Russian Thistle. N. Mex. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 15.
1895.
WOOTON AND STANDLEY—FLORA OF NEW MEXICO. 201
Suaeda moquini A, Nels. in Coulter, New Man. Rocky Mount. 170.1909.
Type locality: Mountain on the west shore of the Salt Lake, Utah.
Range: Wyoming and Colorado to California and New Mexico.
New Mexico: Carrizo Mountains; Llano Estacado; Farmington; Alamogordo;
White Sands; south of Roswell; Las Mitas. Alkaline soil, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran Zones.
4. ALIiENROLFEA Kuntze. Burro weed.
Succulent erect much-branched perennial, somewhat woody at the base; leaves scalelike, broadly triangular; flowers in dense spikes, in threes in the axils of the spirally ranked bracts.
1. Allenrolfea occidentals (S. Wats.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pi, 2: 546, 1891.
Halostachys occidentalis S. Wats, in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 5: 293.1871.
Spirostachys occidentalis S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 0:125.18^4.
Type locality: "About Great Salt Lake and in alkaline valleys westward to the sinks of the Carson and Humboldt Rivers."
Range: Utah and Nevada to Arizona and western Texas.
New Mexico: Socorro; Mesilla Valley; White Sands; above Tularosa; Roewell.
Alkaline soil, in the Lower Sonoran Zone.
A very peculiar, almost leafless, shrubby halophyte. The young branches are terete, of a pronounced green (though sometimes glaucous), and very succulent. It grows to a height of about 150 cm. and is usually conspicuous for color alone among the gray or brown plants with which it is commonly associated. It is sparingly eaten by burros, hence the common name.
6. ETJROTIA Adans. Winter pat.
A low, stellately tomentose shrub; leaves alternate, entire, linear to narrowly linear- lanceolate; flowers small, clustered, axillary and subspicate; calyx 4-parted; stamens 4.
1. Euro tia lanata (Pursh) Moq. Chenop. 81.1840.
Diotis lanata Purshj Fl. Amer. Sept. 602.1814.
Type locality: "On the banks of the Missouri, in open prairies."
Range: New Mexico and Arizona, northward to Oregon and Manitoba.
New Mexico: Common nearly throughout the State. Dry hills and plains, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
The plant is highly prized by stockmen, particularly those who raise sheep, because it furnishes a good feed when other kinds are scarce—hence the common name.
6. AT&IPLEX L Salt bush.
Monoecious or dioecious, mealy or scurfy annuals or perennials; staminate flowers bractless, variously clustered; pistillate flowers subtended by 2 persistent bracts.
these becoming variously enlarged, thickened, and coalescent in fruit; leaves flat, alternate or opposite.
The genus contains several species which are of value as forage plants, most of them being eaten more or less. One {A. expan&a) is a common tumbleweed in the cultivated lands in certain parts of the State. The plants occur mostly in open flats, preferring rather compact soils, and all of them will tolerate considerable alkali in the soil.
* KEY TO THE SPECIES,
Annuals.
Leaves narrow, oblong to oblanceolate; plants mostly erect, the branches not widely spreading.
Plants low, 40 cm. high or less; fruiting bracts com- pletely united, orbicular, flattened, the margins with numerous teeth; leaves small, 2 cm. long or
lees 1. A. elegant.