Polygonum. | POLYGONACE (Wright). 465 
of Del. ; var. prostratum, Meisn. Syn. Polyg. 62, in Linnea, xiv. 486, 
and in DC. Prodr, xiv. 93. P. Roxburghii, var. longifolium, Meisn. 
in DC. Prodr. xiv. 93. 
SoutuH Arrica : without locality, Oldenbury, 2168! Bowker ! 
Coast ReEcion: Cape Div.; Claremont Flats, Wolley-Dod, 621! Riversdale 
Div. ; between Zoetemelks River and Little Vet River, Burchell, 6821 ! Queenstown 
Div. ; Engotini, near Shiloh, Baur, 966! 
CentRAL Recion: Victoria West Div. ; Nieuwe Veld, Dreye! Albert Div. ; 
without precise locality, Cooper, 1377 ! 
WesteERN Recion: Little Namaqualand ; near Verleptpram, Dréye ! 
Kavawart Recion: Griqualand West ; along the Vaal River, Burchell, 1759/1! 
Basutoland ; without precise locality, Cooper, 3057 ! Transvaal ; Pretoria, 4400 ft., 
Miss Leendertz, 411! Townlands, Zeerust, Evans, 9! Groot Vlei, Heidelburg 
Distr., Gilfillan in Herb. Galpin., 7866! Potchefstroom, Burtt-Davy, 1771! 
Mathibis Kom, between Lorenzo Marques and Komati River, Bolus, 9755! Farm 
Ludlow, Springbok Flats, Burtt-Davy, 2494 ! 
Eastern Recion: Griqualand East ; near Kokstad, Haygarth in Herb. Wood., 
4273! Natal; Van Reenans Pass, 5000 ft., Wood, 4564 ! 
A native of the North Temperate Zone of the Old World ; now widely dispersed. 
This species much resembles P. plebeium, R. Br. (Prodr. 420), with which it is 
easily confused in the flowering state, but can be distinguished when in fruit by 
the nut of the latter being smooth and shining. 
3. P. maritimum (Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. 361); stem prostrate, much- 
branched and woody at the base; leaves linear- or oval-oblong, 
about 7 lin. long and 2 lin. wide, rather fleshy ; ochrex scarious, 
4 lin. long, at first ovate and entire, finally laciniate ; flowers 1-3 in 
axillary clusters ; perianth 1} lin. long, scarcely enlarged in fruit, 
pink or almost white ; lobes 5, obovate, obtuse, l-nerved ; stamens 8, 
about half as long as the perianth ; filaments shortly subulate from 
a broadly ovate base ; ovary trigonous ; styles 3; nutlet brown, 
trigonous, longer than the perianth. Thunb. Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. 
385 ; Meisn. in DC. Prodr, xiv. 88; Engl. Bot. ed. 3, t. 733; Bolus 
& Wolley-Dod in Trans. 8. Afr. Phil. Soc. xiv. 311. 
Coast Reaion : Cape Diy. ; Camps Bay, Alexander Prior! Wolley-Dod, 2884! 
Also in Western and South Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic Islands and 
North America, 
4. P. alatum (Bucb.-Ham. ex D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. 72); an 
erect or procumbent annual ; stem slender, glabrous, internodes long ; 
leaves ovate or deltoid-ovate, up to 1 in. long and 9 lin. wide, entire, 
acute, minutely verrucose ; petiole 3-6 lin. long, broadly winged, 
wing often cordate at the base ; ochre tubular, oblique, membranous, 
entire; flowers in capitate few-flowered cymes subtended by a 
reduced leaf at the apex of slender branches, which are glandular 
or slightly hairy at their tips ; perianth 1} lin. long ; lobes about as 
long as the tube, oblong, obtuse ; stamens 6-8, much shorter than 
the perianth ; filaments narrowly lanceolate ; anthers dark brown, 
cells discrete; ovary compressed ; styles 2, nearly as long as the 
ovary, united nearly half-way; nut lenticular, chestnut-brown, 
shining, very minutely verrucose. Spreng. Syst. Veg. Cur. Post. 154 ; 
VOL. V.—SECT. I. eT 
