Tas. 6500. 
POLYGON UM AMPLEXICAULE. 
Native of the Himalaya Mountains. 
Nat. Ord. Potyconrm.—Tribe EupotyGoneZ, 
Genus Potyconum, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 97.) 
Potyconvo (Bistorta) amplericaule ; caule elongato gracili erecto parce ramoso, 
foliis radicalibus et inferioribus longe petiolatis cordato-ovatis -lanceolatisve 
caudato-acuminatis minute crenulatis costa nervisque subtus minutissime 
papillosis supremis sessilibus amplexicaulibus, racemis  solitariis v. 2-nis 
spiciformibus gracilibus elongatis densifloris, bracteis ovatis acuminatis imbri- 
catis scariosis, perianthii segmentis oblongis obtusis, staminibus 8, antheris 
exsertis, stylis 3 capillaribus, fructibus trigonis. 
P. amplexicaule, Don. Prodr. Fl. Nep.p.70; Meissn. Monog. Polyg.in Wall. P/. 
As. rar. vol. iii. p. 54; Babingt. in Trans. Linn, Soc. vol. xviii. p. 96 ; Lind!. 
in Bot. Reg. 1838, Mise. no. 117, et 1839, t. 46; Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 
vol, xiv. pars 1, p. 126. 
P. speciosum, Wall. Cat. n. 1716; Meissn. ll. ec. 
P. ambiguum, Meissn. in Wall. Pl. As. rar. vol. iii. p. 54, et in DC. Prodr, 1. e. ; 
Wight, Ic. Pl. Ind. Or. t. 1797. 
P. oxyphyllum, Wall. Cat. n. 1715; Meissn. Ul. ee. 
P. petiolatum, Don. 1. ¢. p. 70, teste Babingt. 
The Himalaya Mountains are as remarkable in a botanical 
‘point of view for the beauty of the colouring of the flowers 
of their Polygonums, as Japan is for the stature and noble 
foliage of some of the species of the same genus which it 
contains. Amongst the Himalayan kinds none exceeds P. 
amplexicaule, which is unrivalled for graceful habit, foliage, 
and colouring combined, and it is further a plant of such easy 
cultivation, that it ought to be a garden favourite. It 
occurs under two varieties, a white- and a red-flowered, of 
which the white has usually a longer and more slender 
raceme, with more distant flowers. These two varieties 
do not correspond to any two of the five species which 
have been founded on dried specimens of the plant, and 
JUNE lst, 1880. 
