Rumez.| CXIX. POLYGONACEE. (J. D. Hooker.) 61 
green, stem subsimple, radical leaves petioled oblong obtuse base cordate 
astate or sagittate, cauline sessile, racemes lax, whorls 6-8-fld., outer sepals 
reflexed, valves orbicular. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 64; Fl. Dan. 
t. 2534; Engl. Bot. t. 127. 
WESTERN HIMALAYA; from Kumaon to Kashmir, alt. 8-12,000 ft.—DrsTRIB. 
N. Asia, Europe from the Caucasus westward, N. America. 
Root of slender fibres, from a short woody stock. Stem 1-2 ft., deeply grooved. 
Leaves 2-6 in.; petiole of lower slender; stipules ragged. Panicle contracted ; 
branches strict, erect, leafless. Sepals of male with scarious margins. Valves of ripe 
female perianth broadly ovate-cordate, pink or crimson. 
9. R. vesicarius, Linn.; Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 1017; annual, 
moncecious, glabrous, branched from the root, rather fleshy, leaves petioled 
elliptic ovate or oblong 3-5-nerved, base cuneate rarely cordate or hastate, 
racemes short terminal and leaf-opposed leafless, flowers pedicelled some- 
times 2-nate and connate, valves large orbicular 2-lobed at each end very 
membranous and reticulate without a marginal nerve. Meissn. in Wail. 
Pl. As. Rar. iii. 64, and in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 70; Rozb. Fl. Ind. ii. 209 ; 
Campd. Rum. 129, t. 3, £.1.8; Wall. Cat. 1732. 
WESTERN PANJAB; on the Salt range, and trans-Indus hills; cultivated and an 
escape in other parts of India.—DrRTRIB. Affghanistan, Persia, the Levant, and 
N. Africa. 
Pale green, 6-12 in. high, dichotomously branched. Leaves 1-3 in. obtuse or 
acute; petiole as long as the blade. Racemes 1-1} in.; pedicels slender, jointed 
about the middle or unjointed. Fruit 4 in. diam., white or pink, valves hyaline. 
Sect. III. Acetosella, Meissn. Flowers dicecious. Styles arising 
from the angles of the ovary. Inner sepals herbaceous, hardly enlarged in 
fruit. Leaves hastate, 
10. R. acetosella, Linn.; Boiss. Fl. Orient. iv. 1018; perennial, 
stem slender simple or branched from the base, lower leaves petioled lan- 
ceolate or hastate, uppermost sessile, racemes leafless, flowers minute, 
pedicels jointed at the top. .Meissn. in DO. Prodr. 63; Fl. Dan. 1161; 
Engl. Bot, t. 1674, 
Eastern HIMALAYA; Sikkim, at Darjeeling, alt. 7-8000 ft.,' Clarke; introduced ? 
—DIsTRIB. Europe, N. Africa, N. Asia.— Introduced elsewhere. 
Glabrous; often bright red in autumn ; rootstock creeping, much branched. Leaves 
ł-2 in., variable in breadth and form; stipules silvery, torn. Racemes erect; male 
fl. largest. Fruiting sepals oblong, erect, closely appressed to the small 3-gonous 
fruit.—Sheep-sorreil. 
Orpen CXX. PODOSTEMONACEJE. 
Aquaties, growing on stones in tropieal streams, annual or perennial. 
Stem branched with Fearon or with these confluent into amorphous fronds. 
Inflorescence various, often of a 1- or many-flowered scape, na ed or arising 
from a tubular sheath. Flowers 1-sexual, rarely dicecious, usually enclosed 
m a spathe, Perianth 0, or membranous, lobed or partite or of a few 
Scales. Stamens definite or not, free or connate, hypogynous or perigynous, 
„aments flat: anthers 9.lobed. Ovary free, sessile or stalked, smooth or 
ribbed, 1-3-celled ; styles 2-3, or one and columnar, stigma one capitate, or 
Simple toothed or laciniate ; ovules many, anatropons, axile or 
parietal. Capsule 1-8,celled ; septicidal or septifragal, valves 2-3. Seeds 
