CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT 



Leaves. — Alternate, halberd-shaped or heart-shaped 

 with tips and bases rather long-pointed, margin slightly 

 roughened; petioles long and thick; sheath smooth, 

 oblique, slightly rough on the ridges. 



Flowers. — Yellowish green, in slender, axillary racemes, 

 more or less interrupted, two to four inches long. 



Calyx. — Five-parted, the 

 three outer segments 

 winged and decurrent on 

 the pedicels especially in 

 fruit. 



Corolla. — Wanting. 



Stamens. — Five to nine. 



Pistil. — Ovary one; stig- 

 mas three. 



Fruit. — Three-angled 

 akenes, obtuse at each end, 

 jet-black, smooth and shin- 

 ing, enclosed in a persis- 

 tent, winged calyx, about 

 half an inch long; wings 

 crisped not cut. 



Climbing False Buckwheat. Polygonum 

 scandens 



A conspicuous weed 

 that has found the mod- 

 ern wire fence admirably adapted to its needs and 

 shares it with the Wild Morning-Glory. It is, moreover, 

 capable of shouldering its way through the bush,es of 

 a thicket and displaying its flowering racemes in pro- 

 fusion in the sunlight at the top. When no other sup- 

 port offers, it spreads itself over a square rod or so of 

 ground and holds up its fruiting racemes to light and 

 air. It is a capable, efficient, and successful weed. 

 The leaves are usually halberd-shaped, the points of 

 base and apex making an attractive form; the racemes 

 are rather more conspicuous in fruit than in flower, and 



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