24 CXIX. POLYGONACEE. (J. D. Hooker.) [ Polygonum. 
Sect. 2. ELEUTHEROSPERMA. Slender annuals. Flowers in terminal and axillary 
clusters. Styles minute free. Seed loose in the triquetrous nut, 
B. Stipules tubular elongate.—8Sp. 2-3. 
Sect. 3. AVICULARIA. Herbs. Leaves small; stipules hyaline, cleft or torn. 
Flowers axillary. Styles minute free. Albumen horny.—Sp. 4-11. 
Sect. 4. AMBLYGONON. Perennial-rooted herbs, Flowers in spiciform racemes ; 
bracts tubular, truncate. Nut orbicular; cotyledons incumbent, —Sp. 12-14. 
Sect. 5. Tovana.. A perennial-rooted tall herb. Leaves broad. Flowers distant 
in very slender racemes; bractstubular. Nut flattened with 2 rigid persistent hooked 
styles.—Sp. 15. 
Sect. 6. BisroRTA. Erect or prostrate annual or perennial-rooted herbs. 
Flowers in spiciform racemes; bracts hyaline, ovate or lanceolate not tubular.— 
Sp. 16-23. 
Sect. 7. PERSIOARIA. Erect or decumbent unarmed often glandular annuals or 
perennials, Leaves narrow. Flowers in slender or dense spiciform racemes; bracts 
tubular.—Sp. 24-38. 
Sect. 8. CEPHALOPHILON. Erect or prostrate unarmed annuals rarely perennials 
or shrubs. Leaves broad, sometimes lobed or auricled. Flowers capitate; bracts not 
tubular.—Sp. 39-48. 
Sect. 9. ECHINOCAULON, Erect or ascending usually prickly annuals. Leaves 
usually broad, often hastate.. Flowers capitate or racemose, bracts tubular. (Hardly 
distinct from Cephalophiion.)—Sp. 49—55. i 
Sect. 10. Aconogonon. Erect shrubs, rarely herbs. 
panicles; bracts open or very shortly tubular.—Sp. 56-67. 
Sect. 11. Trntarta, Twining herbs. Leaves broad, hastate or cordate, Flowers 
in axillary clusters or slender racemes; bracts not tubular—Sp. 68-70. 
Flowers in branched 
Sect. I. Kanicta, Hook. f. A minute annual. Leaves often o 
site; stipules short 2-lobed or -partite. Flowers in terminal and axillary 
clusters or heads; bracts not tubular or sheathing. Perianth 3—5-cleft. 
Stamens 1-5 without interposed glands. Stigmas 2-3, subsessile. Nut 
subterete or compressed ; cotyledons accumbent. i 
1. P. islandicum, Hook. f.; glabrous, leaves obovate, flowers very 
minute. Koenigia islandica, Linn.; Meissn. in DOC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 83;. 
Lamk. Ill. t. 51; F7. Dan. t. 418. K. monandra, Dene. in Jacq. Voy. Bot. 
142, t. 147; Meissn. l c. l . . 
ALPINE WESTERN HIMALAYA; in marshy places from Kashmir to Kumaon, 
alt. 12,000 ft. WESTERN TIBET, alt. 11-14,000 ft.— DisTRIB. Arctic and subarctic 
regions and Altai Mts. . 
Stems very slender, succulent, forming tufts 1-6 in. high with matted roots. 
Leaves 3-4 in., petioled, obtuse. Flowers 2-sexual or female. Perianth-lobes equal 
or unequal. Stamen usually solitary (rarely 2) in the Indian plant. Nut rather 
longer than the perianth.— Maximoviez (Mel, Biol. xi. 309) doubts the validity of 
Kenigia as a genus, 
Sect. II. ELEUTHEROSPERMA, Hook. f. Slender annuals. Leaves small, 
broad; stipules 2-partite. Flowers in axillary and terminal clusters. 
Perianth 5-cleft; bracts not tubular or sheathing. Stamens 2-4. Styles 
minute, free. Seed loose in the acutely triquetrous nut; cotyledons 
accumbent. 
2. P. delicatulum, Jess» in DC. Prodr, xiv. 1. 127; quite 
glabrous, stem filiform, leaves sessile or subsessile 4—4 in. elliptic ovate or 
ovate-cordate acute, flowers minute in axillary clusters scarcely exceeding 
