1 "Stems jointed, +- fleshy or succulent; leaves scale-like" 2
1 "Stems not jointed, generally not fleshy; leaves well developed" 5
2 "Leaves alternate; shrub" "Allenrolfea {Allenrolfea occidentalis}"
2 "Leaves opposite; annual to subshrub" 3
3 Annual Salicornia
3 "Subshrub, woody stems sometimes buried by tidal action" 4
4 "Inflorescence axis bearing flowers to tip, not resuming vegetative growth after flowering; flowers sunken in fleshy tissue of distal internode, adherent to each other and to subtending bracts; seed with hooked hairs" Salicornia
4 "Inflorescence axis often distally sterile, +- abruptly tapered, sometimes resuming vegetative growth after flowering; flowers sunken in axis, free from each other and distal bract; seed glabrous" "Arthrocnemum {Arthrocnemum subterminale}"
5 "Leaves +- semicylindric, generally fleshy (except Kochia)" 6
5 "Leaves flattened, not or +- weakly fleshy" 9
6 "Leaves or inflorescence bracts bristle- or spine-tipped" 7
6 "Leaves or inflorescence bracts not spine- or bristle-tipped" 8
7 "Leaves, inflorescence bracts cylindric or club-shaped, abruptly bristle-tipped; tips of sepals winged in fruit" "Halogeton {Halogeton glomeratus}"
7 "Leaves thread-like to +- cylindric, acute; bracts awl-like to ovate, generally spine-tipped; abaxial faces of sepals generally tubercled or winged in fruit" Salsola
8 "Leaves not or +- weakly fleshy; sepals in fruit each with horizontal, membranous wing or tubercle on abaxial face" Kochia
8 "Leaves fleshy; sepals in fruit each either without wing or tubercle or with distal horn-like appendage and horizontal wing on abaxial face" Suaeda
9 "Bisexual flowers 0; pistillate flower enclosed by 2, free or fused bracts (except in some pistillate flowers of Atriplex hortensis), these enlarged in fruit, calyx 0 (except in Stutzia and some pistillate flowers of Atriplex hortensis)" 10
9 "Bisexual flowers present or 0; pistillate flower (if present) not enclosed by 2 bracts, generally with 1--5 sepals (0 in Monolepis spathulata)" 15
10 "Pistillate flower bracts and calyx of staminate flowers densely soft-hairy" "Krascheninnikovia {Krascheninnikovia lanata}"
10 "Pistillate flower bracts and calyx of staminate flowers glabrous, minutely scaly, or powdery" 11
11 "Plant glabrous or with minute, soft, branched hairs; fruit bracts +- round, flat, winged, wholly united, entire, tubercles 0; shrub" "Grayia {Grayia spinosa}"
11 "Plant glabrous or generally with sessile, round to club-shaped, 1-celled glands that collapse and become mealy or scale-like; fruit bracts +- triangular to round, generally +- thickened, at least tips free, tubercles and/or marginal teeth present or 0; annual to shrub" 12
12 "Pistillate flower with calyx that is enclosed between and concealed by much longer bracts" "Stutzia {Stutzia covillei}"
12 "Pistillate flower without calyx (except in bractless pistillate flowers of Atriplex hortensis)" 13
13 "Leaf anatomy Kranz (see note under Atriplex); herbs to shrubs" Atriplex
13 "Leaf anatomy non-Kranz; herbs" 14
14 "Calyx lobes of staminate flower 4; seeds of 1 kind (dark brown-black); annual or perennial herb" Extriplex
14 "Calyx lobes of staminate flower 3--5; seeds of 2 kinds (smaller black, larger brown); annual" Atriplex
15 "Calyx horizontally winged in fruit" 16
15 "Calyx not horizontally winged in fruit" 17
16 "Leaf wavy-dentate; plant long-shaggy-hairy to tomentose, generally glabrous in age" "Cycloloma {Cycloloma atriplicifolium}"
16 "Leaf entire; plant generally glabrous, occasionally +- hairy" Kochia
17 "Fruiting calyx tubercled or with curved to hooked appendages" 18
17 "Fruiting calyx not tubercled or with appendages" 20
18 "Calyx densely hairy, in fruit bearing 5 incurved to hooked spines" "Bassia {Bassia hyssopifolia}"
18 "Calyx glabrous to ciliate, in fruit tubercled, without spines" 19
19 "Leaf ovate; ovary 1/2-inferior, embedded in receptacle; fruits clustered, 2+ often falling in a group together with hardened calyces" "Beta {Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima}"
19 "Leaf linear; ovary superior, not embedded in receptacle; fruits falling individually" "Kochia scoparia"
20 "Ovary 1/2-inferior, embedded in receptacle; calyx thick, hard in fruit; fruits clustered" "Beta {Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima}"
20 "Ovary superior; calyx thin in fruit; fruits not adherent" 21
21 "Distal leaves cordate-clasping; style branches 3" "Aphanisma {Aphanisma blitoides}"
21 "Distal leaves not clasping; style branches generally 2" 22
22 "Sepals, stamens (1--)5; plant glandular-puberulent or not" 23
22 "Sepals (0)1--3, stamens 1--3(5); plant not glandular-puberulent" 24
23 "Plant glandular-puberulent, sometimes also long-hairy" Dysphania
23 "Plant +- glabrous or with sessile, 1-celled, bead-like glands that generally collapse and become mealy or scale-like, not hairy" Chenopodium
24 "Inflorescence a bracted terminal spike; leaves generally linear to lance-linear or thread-like; sepal 1, adaxial; stamens generally 3" "Corispermum {Corispermum americanum var. americanum}"
24 "Inflorescence of axillary clusters of flowers or flowers solitary at stem tips or in axils; leaves elliptic, +- oblong, triangular-lanceolate, oblanceolate or spoon-shaped; sepals 0 or 1--3; stamens 1--2" 25
25 "Stem many-branched throughout, ultimate branches thread-like; flowers 1--3 at stem tips or in axils" "Micromonolepis {Micromonolepis pusilla}"
25 "Stem simple or branched from base, not branched distally, ultimate branches not thread-like; flowers 4--15+ per axillary cluster" Monolepis