Tas. 8724. 
POLYGONUM GrRiIFFITHII. 
Northern India and Western China. 
PoLtyGonacEAE. Tribe EUPOLYGONEAE. 
-Potyeoxum, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 97. 
Polygonum (§ Bistorta) Griffithii, Hook. f. Flor. Brit. Ind. vol. v. p. 54; 
species P. sphaerostachyo, Meisn., afiinis, sed spicis saepius pluribus 
peste brevioribus pedicellis !ongioribus foliisque caulinis latioribus 
iffert. 
Herba perennis, rami circiter 12 e caudice lignoso caespitose orti. Folia radicalia 
numerosa, oblonga vel elliptica, acuta, basi rotundata vel acuta, subtus 
fere glauca, glabra vel primum sparse hirsuta, marginibus tenuiter 
undulatis, venulis tenuibus sed prominentibus, 10-15 cm. longa, 3°5 cm. 
lata; petiolus usque ad 10 cm. longus; folia caulina pauca, radicalibus 
multo minora, oblonga vel ovata, 6 cm. longa, 3 em. lata; petiolus usque 
ad 8 cm. longus; ochrea glabra, brunnea, 4 cm. longa. Sptcae simplices 
vel ramosae, in foliorum caulinorum axillis dispositae, densiflorae; obtusae, 
pallide brunneae ; pedicelli7 mm. longi, tenuissimi, prope basin articulati ; 
flores erecti. Perianthium turbinatum, intense kermesinum; segmenta 
oblonga, obtusa, saepius 3-nervia, § mm. longa, 2°5 mm. lata. Stamina 8, 
perianthio breviora ; antherae violaceae, 1 mm. Jongae, obtusae. Ovariwm 
anguste oblongum, 3-quetrum, 2 mm. longum; styli 3, ovario duplo 
longiores, laete purpurei; stigmata punctiformia parumexserta. Achenium 
4 mm. longum, ochraceum, lignosum.—P. calostachyum, Diels in Notes 
Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. vol. v. p. 261. Polygonum sp., Griff. Itin. Notes, 
p- 140.—C. H. Wricur. 
The Polygonum we figure here was discovered by 
Dr. W. Griffith in 1837 growing on rocks above Sanah, 
in Bhutan, at about 10,000 feet above sea-level. The 
plant remained undescribed until 1886 when Sir J. D. 
Hooker named it P. Griffithi. The species was not 
heard of again until 1904 when it was met with by 
Mr. G. Forrest in moist mountain meadows on the 
eastern flank of the Mekong-Salween Divide in south- 
western Yunnan, at altitudes of 9,000—-11,000 feet. It 
had already been gathered by Pére Monbeig at Tse-kou 
in the same province, specimens gathered by him reach- 
ing Kew in 1905. Since then Mr. F. K. Ward has also 
collected this species in Yunnan. The material for our 
plate was provided by a plant raised from seeds received at 
August, 1917, 
