460 POLYGONACE (Wright). [ Oxygonum. 
perianth ; filaments filiform; anthers oblong. Ovary included in 
the perianth-tube ; styles 3, filiform, connate at the base ; stigmas 
capitate.  Perianth-tube accrescent in the fruiting stage and 
hardened, often with wings or spines on the three angles, enclosing 
the nut. Seed erect, turbinate, 3-angled; embryo straight, sub- 
central in the albumen; cotyledons fiat, oblong; radicle short, 
superior. 
Annual or perennial herbs ; leaves alternate, petioled, entire or pinnatifid ; 
ochreee membranous, truncate ; flowers red or whitish, fascicled in the axils of 
the bracts, forming long lax racemes. 
Disrrip. Species about 11; also in Arabia and Tropical Africa. 
Fruit broadly winged ee ies aes i ---» (1) alatum, 
Fruit without wings or spines: 
Fruit obovoid, ribbed... Aaa ae on ... (2) Zeyheri. 
Fruit ovoid, acuminate, smooth ra ee ... (3) dregeanum, 
Fruit toothed at the base ... —... a ce ... (4) delagoense. 
Fruit with 3 spines at the base : 
Leaves entire or with 1-2 short teeth ... bas ... (5) calearatum. 
Leaves pinnately or bipinnately lobed ; lobes narrow (6) canescens. 
Leaves pinnately lobed ; lobes broad ... ...._—«...._-—«(7?+)«atriplicifolium, 
var. sinuatum. 
1. 0. alatum (Burch. Trav. i. 548); an annual herb, much- 
branched from the crown of the root ; stems erect, finely pubescent, 
up to 1 ft. long ; leaves lanceolate or rhomboid, entire or pinnatisect, 
1-1} in. long, acute, narrowed gradually at the base into a short 
petiole ; ochree greenish-white, funnel-shaped, ciliate-dentate or 
nearly entire ; racemes very lax, 4-8 in. long; flowers 2-3 to a 
cluster ; pedicels much longer than the ovate membranous bract ; 
perianth-limb pinkish or milk-white, 2 lin. long ; perianth-tube in 
fruit ovoid, 4 lin. long, broadly winged at the 3 angles. Meisn. in 
DC. Prodr. xiv. 38; Hook. Ic. Pl. xiv. 14, t. 1321; Hiern in Cat. 
Afr. Pl. Welw. i. 902; Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. iii. 57. 
Var. 8: Marlothii (Engl. Jahrb, x. 6); fruit rounded, not triangular. 
Sour Arrica: without locality, Zeyher, 1451 ! 
WEsTERN Region : Great Namaqualand ; Amhub, Schinz, 501 ! 
KataHart Region: Griqualand West; plain at the foot of the Asbestos 
Mountains, between Kloof village and Wittewater, Burchell, 2074! Orange River 
Colony ; Sand River, Burke! along the Orange River, Mrs. Barber! var. B: 
Bechuanaland ; Kuruman, 3900 ft., Marloth, 1016! 
EasTERN Recon: Natal; near Pietermaritzburg, Bolus, 10884! 
2. O. Zeyheri (Sond. in Linnea, xxiii. 100) ; herbaceous, 1-1} ft. 
high, much-branched from the ground; branches erect, angular, — 
slender, glabrous or finely pubescent ; leaves 1 in. long, 3-lobed or 
rarely pinnatifid ; lobes linear, mucronate, entire or toothed, the 
terminal twice as long as the lateral; ochree 3-4 lin. long, with 
several subulate teeth ; spikes terminal, interrupted, 2—4 in. long ; 
