104 CIX. POLYGONACEH (BAKER AND wRicHt). [Polygonum. 
Herbs or shrubs, erect, prostrate or scandent. Leaves alternate ; ochre 
membranous, clasping the stem, often fringed with bristles. Flowers 
usually fascicled in the axils of membranous bracts, fascicles often 
arranged in terminal racemes, spikes, or panicles; pedicels articu- 
lated. 
Species about 150, cosmopolitan. 
*Flowers in heads or clusters (see also 6, strigosum). 
Leaves ovate. Nutlet pitted : : c 5 . P.alatum: 
Leaves linear or linear-oblong. 
Nutlet rugose, dull . 
Nutlet smooth, shining 
** Flowers in spikes, racemes, or panicle: s. 
Leaves oblong, 13 in. broad, glabrous. ‘ . 4. P. amphibium. 
Leaves ovate, 2 in. broad, glandular beneath . 5. P. Buchanani. 
Leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. 
Racemes very short, in lax panicles. 
Leaves truncate at the base, hairy . . 
Leaves cuneate at the base, glabrous 
Racemes elongated, slender ; clusters of flowers 
not congested. 
. P. aviculare. 
. PL. plebeium. 
wre 
P. strigosum. 
P. pedunculare. 
el 
Nutlet usually trigonous; styles 3. : . 8. P. serrulatum. 
Nutlet lenticular; styles2  . : ' . 9. P. lapathifolium. 
Racemes elongated, more robust; clusters of 
flowers congested. 
Ochrez with a herbaceous spreading limb. 
Leaves hairy; bracts ciliate : . 10. P. limbatum. 
Leaves soon glabrescent ; bracts not ciliate ; 11. P. Schinzit. 
Ochre without a herbaceous limb. 
Nutlets trigonous, : : . 
Nutlets lenticular. 
Leaves densely white hairy beneath. 
Bracts not ciliate : ¢ . - 18. P. lanigerum. 
Bracts ciliate . A - 14. P. tomentosum. 
Leaves slightly hairy on the nerves and 
margins only. 
Ochrewe glabrous. 
Leaves glandular . : : . 15. P. sambesicum. 
Leaves not glandular’. 5 . 16. P. senegalense. 
Ochrez bristly. 
Stamens included. 
. 12. P. barbatum. 
Stem glabrous . S : . 17. P. Tanganike. 
“Stem pubescent}. : : . 18. P. acuminatum. 
Stamens exserted . : : . 19. P. erythropus, 
Leaves quite glabrous . ° . 20. P. glabrum. 
1, P. alatum, Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. 72. 
Annual. Stems very slender, naked, branched. Leaves ovate, acumi- 
nate, membranous, about 1 in. long, narrowed suddenly to a short 
winged petiole ; ochres not ciliate. Heads of flowers 1-2 to a branch, 
3 lin. in diam., usually subtended by a leaf; bracts ovate, not ciliate ; 
pedicels slender, hispid at the tip. Perianth eglandular, 1 lin. long. 
Stamens 7-8. Nut biconvex or trigonous, reticulated. —gpreng. Syst. 
Veg. cur. post. 154; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 41. P. nepalense, 
