106 CIX. POLYGONACEH (BAKER AND wRicHT). [Polygonum. 
Mozamb. Dist. Portuguese East Africa: Lower Zambesi; near Lupata, 
Kirk! British Central Africa: Nyasaland; Shire Highlands, Buchanan, 499! 
Rhodesia ; Gwelo, Gardner, 44! 
4. P.amphibium, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 361. Perennial. Stem 
trailing at the base and rooting from the nodes. Leaves in the 
Abyssinian plant floating, oblong, obtuse, broadly rounded at the base, 
4 in. long, 14 in. wide, smooth at the margins, long-petioled ; ochre 
membranous, truncate, not ciliate. Spikes oblong, dense, 1-2 in. long ; 
peduncles erect, eglandular; bracts green, obtuse, not ciliate. Perianth 
bright red, 2 lin. long. Stamens 5. Styles 2, united half-way up. 
Nut lenticular, shining, much shorter than the perianth.—Meisn. in 
DC. Prodr. xiv. 115; A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 224; Engl. Hoch- 
gebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 202; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 34; Engl. Bot. 
ed. 3, tt. 1241-2; Gage in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii. 423. 
Nile Land. Eritrea: Saganeiti, Schwejnfurth, 901! Zazega, near Asmara, 
Schweinfurth, 2102! near Fort Adi-Ugre, Schweinfurth, 187. Abyssinia: Bege- 
meder ; in Lake Tana, Schimper, 1356 ! Shireh; mountain-lakes, Schimper ! Quartin- 
Dillon & Petit, Rohlfs & Stecker, 
Also at the Cape and in the North Temperate Zone of both hemispheres. 
5. P. Buchanani, Dammer in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C.170. Stem 
erect, glabrous. Leaves shortly petioled, ovate or oblong-ovate, much 
narrowed to the base, 4-5 in. long, 2 in. broad, glabrous on both 
surfaces, copiously gland-dotted beneath; ochre ciliate with long 
bristles. Spikes lax, cylindrical; bracts not ciliate. Perianth glan- 
dular, campanulate, 2 lin. long, 5-lobed rather more than half-way down ; 
lobes oblong, slightly cucullate at the apex. Stamens 7; 3 filaments 
flattened and ovate at the base, the others filiform. Ovary oblong; 
style tripartite. Nut trigonous. 
Mozamb. Dist. British Central Africa: Nyasaland; Shire Highlands, 
Buchanan, 550! 775! Namasi, Cameron, 3! 
6. P. strigosum, 2. Br. Prodr. 420. Annual. Stem slender, 
branched, furnished with recurved bristles. Leaves lanceolate, trun- 
cate at the base, hairy, membranous, distinctly petioled, the lower 
5-6 in. long ; ochree not ciliate. Racemes subglobose, 3 lin. long, at 
the ends of the slender glandular-hispid branches of a lax panicle; 
bracts orbicular, not ciliate. Perianth pink, not glandular, 1 lin. long. 
Stamens 5. Styles 2. Nut lenticular, subglobose, shorter than the 
perianth.—Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 134; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 268; 
Hook. f. Fl. Brit, Ind. v. 47 ; Dammerfin Engl. Pfl. Ost Afr. C. 170. 
Lower Guinea. Uppr Congo, ex Dammer, 
Mozamb. Dist. Ge:man East Africa: Usamlara; Kwa Mshuza, 4500-5000 
ft., Holst, 9026 ! 
Also in Natal, Tropical Asia and Australia. 
