POLYGONACEAE 
Pedicels together with the peduncles shorter than the wings. 
Sepal-wings longer than broad, 4-5 mm. broad. 
Sepal-wings blunt, with stout nerves: achenes acuminate. 6. 
Sepal-wings acutish, with slight nerves: achenes acute. Te 
Sepal-wings broader than long, 1-1.2 mm. broad. 8. 
Leaves strongly crisped, the lower ones mostly large and broad, usually 
dark green. 
Lower leaves narrowed at the base. 9. 
Lower leaves truncate or cordate at the base. 
Stout plants, usually with dense contracted panicles in fruit. 10. 
Slender plants, with loose spreading panicles in fruit. 
Each wing bearing a Pipes inflorescence leafy, at least the 
main axis. 
Branches of the panicle naked: sepal-wings triangular. 1% 
Branches of the panicles leafy: sepal-wings oblong, fiddle- 
shaped. 12. 
One wing only bearing a callosity : inflorescence not leafy. 18. 
Sepal-wings armed with spine-like teeth. 
Tall plants : lower leaves cordate or truncate. 
Sepal-wings armed with 5-10 teeth, two bearing callosities. 14. 
Sepal-wings armed with 3-5 teeth, one bearing a callosity. 15. 
Low plants: lower leaves abruptly or gradually narrowed at the base. 
Pedicels abruptly enlarged near the calyx. 16. 
Pedicels dilated above, the margins revolute. T: 
iub 
mE 
369 
Langloisii. 
altissimus. 
spiralis. 
. hymenose palus. 
crispus. 
Berlandieri. 
conglomeratus. 
sanguineus. 
R. pulcher. 
R: 
R 
obtusifolius. 
: parna rioides. 
E: 
ucephalophorus. 
1. Rumex Acetosélla L. Perennial, slender, glabrous. Stems erect or nearly so, 
1-6 dm. tall, one or several from a woody creeping or horizontal rootstock: leaf-blades 
hastate, 2.5-15 cm. long, obtuse or acute, usually broadest above the middle, with two en- 
tire or 1-2-toothed auricles at the base, papillose, petioled, the uppermost merely linear : 
ocreae silvery, soon lacerate : flowers dioecious, in more or less whorled clusters: calyx 
green, 1 mm. long: pedicels slender : stamens 6, exserted : achenes ovoid, 3-angled, 1.5 
mm. long, granular, exceeding the presistent calyx, whose sepals are unchanged in fruit, 
the angles not margined. 
In dry and rocky soil, throughout North America, except the extreme northern part. Spring to 
fall. SHEEP or FIELD SORREL. 
2. Rumex hastátulus Baldw. Perennial, glabrous, rather strict. 
by the sepal-wings, the angles margined. 
Spring 
Stems 1.5-6 dm. 
tall, one or several from a woody base, erect, simple or branched : leaf-blades hastate, ob- 
long or oblanceolate, 2.5-13 cm. long, more or less strongly auricled at the base, acutish, 
petioled, or those of the cauline leaves linear, all papillose : ocreae silvery, at length 
lacerate: flowers dioecious in whorled clusters: calyx 1 mm. long, green, winged in 
fruit: sepal-wings reniform, 4 mm. long: pedicels as long as the wings or longer: 
achenes broadly oblong, 3-angled, 1.5 mm. long, reddish, smooth and shining, invested 
on the coast or in sandy soil, southern New York to Florida, and on the plains, Kansas to Texas. 
3. Rumex fasciculàris Small. Perennial by a small cluster of fusiform roots, of a 
dull and olive-green color. Stem lax and weak, 5-12 dm. long, decumbent, abruptly thick- 
ened at the base and slightly so at the nodes : leaf-blades mostly oblong, a few occasionally 
oblong-ovate or ovate, 8-15 cm. long, of much the same size throughout, about twice as 
long as broad, mostly truncate or cordate at the base, drying thin: ocreae fugacious : 
panicles 1-2 dm. long, rather dense in fruit, the branches ascending: pedicels slender, 
“narrowly clavate, deflexed in fruit, winged at the summit, longer than the sepal-wings, and 
much longer than the peduncles : sepal-wings broadly deltoid, 4.5-5.5 mm. long, undulate, 
strongly-nerved, each bearing a callosity : achenes pyramidal-ovoid, 3 mm. long, the 
angles slightly margined. 
About pools, peninsular Florida. Summer. 
4. Rumex verticillàtus L. Perennial, rather bright green. Stem 9-15 dm. long, erect, 
ascending or somewhat decumbent, simple or nearly so, more or less flexuous when old: 
leaf-blades narrowly oblong, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5-30 cm. long, acute or ob- 
tusish, more or less acuminate at the base, slightly papillose: panicle open, the branches 
rather erect, or spreading in fruit, the rather dense whorls separated below : pedicels 
stout, club-shaped, much longer than the very short peduncles : sepal-wings broadly deltoid, 
4 mm. long, more or less decurrent on the edicel, i-i as long as the pedicels and pe- 
duncles, each bearing a narrowly-ovoid callosity : achenes broadly ovoid, 3-3.5 mm. long. 
In swamps, Quebec to Iowa, Florida and Texas. Spring and summer. 
d 5. Rumex salicifolius Weinm.  Perennial, pale green. Stem 3-9 dm. tall, erect or 
ecumbent, flexuous : leaf-blades narrowly lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 3-20 cm. long, 
or the lower ones sometimes oblong, acute or acuminate at both ends, or rarely obtuse: 
paniele open or dense, 
the branches erect or divergent, sometimes reflexed, the very 
dense whorls separated only below : pedicels much longer than the peduncles : sepal-wings 
24 
