POLYGOXACEAE. 



Ill 



2. PERSICARIA [Tourn.] Mill. 



Annual or perennial often pubescent or glandular caulescent herbs, never 

 twining nor climbing. Leaves alternate, entire, continuous with the ocreae, 

 often glandular-punctate. Ocreae cylindric, naked or ciliate. Racemes spike- 

 like. Ocreolae funnelform. Pedicels rather stout, articulated at the base of 

 the calyx. Calyx more or less colored, often glandular-punctate, investing the 

 achene. Sepals mostly 5, 2 wholly exterior, 2 wholly interior and 1 with one 

 margin interior and the other exterior, none of them winged or keeled. 

 Stamens 48 ; filaments not dilated. Styles mostly 2, sometimes 3, usually par- 

 tially united ; stigmas capitate. Achenes usually black, smooth or granular. 

 Endosperm horny. Cotyledons accumbent. [Name from Persica, the leaves 

 resembling those of the Peach.] About 125 species, widely distributed. Type 

 species: Polygonum Persicaria L. 



1. Persicaria punctata (Ell.) 

 Small. WATER SMARTWEED. (Fig. 

 129.) Annual or perennial, mostly gla- 

 brous. Stem erect or ascending, l-3 

 long; leaves lanceolate, often oblong- 

 lanceolate, l'-6' long, acuminate at 

 both ends, conspicuously punctate, 

 often bearing a few short hairs on the 

 midrib, ciliate; ocreae 5"-7" long, 

 fringed with rather long bristles; 

 racemes linear, erect, somewhat inter- 

 rupted below, loosely flowered; ocreo- 

 lae funnelform, fringed with a few 

 short bristles; calyx greenish, about 

 1" long, conspicuously glandular; 

 sepals oblong or ovate, obtuse, punc- 

 tate ; stamens 8 ; achenes lenticular 

 and slightly gibbous, or 3-angled, 

 about 1" long, broadly oblong, black, 

 smooth and shining. [Polygonum 

 punctatum Ell.; Polygonum acre 

 H.B.K., not Lam.] 



Frequent in marshes. Native. Temperate North America and the West In- 

 dies. Flowers from spring to autumn. Its seeds were probably transported to 

 Bermuda by migratory birds. 



3. FAGOPYRUM Gaertn. 



Annual or perennial rather fleshy usually glabrous leafy herbs, with erect, 

 striate or grooved stems. Leaves alternate, petioled, hastate or deltoid, with 

 oblique, cylindric or funnelform ocreae. Flowers small, white or green, in 

 terminal or axillary usually paniculate racemes, perfect, borne solitary or 

 several together from each ocreola, slender-pedicelled. Calyx about equally 5- 

 parted, persistent and unchanged in fruit, the segments petaloid, shorter than 

 the achene. Stamens 8; filaments filiform, glabrous. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled; 

 style 3-parted; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-angled. Embryo central, dividing 

 the mealy endosperm into two parts; cotyledons broad. [Greek, beech-wheat, 

 from the similarity of the grain.] About 6 species, native of Europe and Asia. 

 Type species: Fagopyrum tataricum L. 



