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AMERICAN FORl'.STRY 



A little while after fertilization the seeds begin tii form 

 inside the calyx, which is likewise pink and jiersistent. 

 They are almost black when ripe — flat, small, and sub- 

 circular or cordate in outline. .So deliberate is the blos- 



PI.\K KNOTWEED IS A CONSPICUOUS JULY FLOWER 



Fig. 2. — -This plant has several common names besides the one given above, it 

 being known in some sections as Common Persicaria. while to others it is familiar 

 ,is Jointweed or Smartweed. Botanically, it has been relegated to the Buckwheat 

 family (Potysonacece), where, according to Gray, it belongs in the genus Persicaria, 

 i\.bcinf{ P. pennsylvantcum; other botanists, while giving it the same specific name, 

 retain it in the genus Polygonum. Its flowers, which are of a rose-pink color, 

 sometimes tinged with greenish, are well shown in the cut, as are also its lanceo- 

 late leaves. The plant flourishes best in moist soil, though it is abundant every- 

 where on its range from July until late autumn, adding masses of color along 

 the roadsides and in waste places in the rural districts. Single plants are some- 

 times very extensive or spreading, and may grow to be at least a yard in height. 

 One of its chief characters is the stipitate glands found on the upper branches 

 and on the peduncles. Jointweed flourishes from northern Maine to the Gulf, 

 and westward to Texas and Minnesota. The butterfly in the picture is the Black 

 Swallow-tail {Papilio Iroilus). 



soming of this Jointweed that we can always find more 

 buds and seeds than we can find flowers on any spike. 

 Polygonum, which is the generic name for this plant and 

 its allies, is composed of two Greek words, meaning nuin\ 

 knees, which refers to the numerous jciints seen to com- 

 pose the stems of the plant. 



In our country no plant has been more generally rele- 

 gated to the order of "weeds" by farmers and other till- 

 ers of the soil than has this much-despised one. As to 



their seeing ''beaut}" in the pink flowers of a "Smart- 

 weed," it is quite safe to say that, as a rule, they most 

 emi)hatically do not ; should they, perchance, see it and 

 appreciate it. it is much to be doubted that it would even 

 be admitted by any one of them. This should not cause 

 us any surjirise, for "weeds are weeds" to all cultivators 

 of the soil, and in thousands of cases they are the chief 

 menace to the annual success of their labors. 



These .Sniartweeds, Jointweeds, Pink Knotweeds, 

 or whatever we may choose to call them, of the Buck- 

 wheat family {Polygonaccir) are a most puzzling group 



THESE LITTLE WHITE BEAUTIES DECEIVED THE OLD BOTANISTS 



Fir,. .^. — Flowering Spurge {Eiiphurltia coroUalu); natural size. This is a speci- 

 men from southern Maryland: and. while the plant is found in rich and sandy 

 soil from New York southward and westward, it has, of recent years only, been 

 naturalized in New England. We generally meet with it in open fields from 

 midsummer to October; and, when abundant, it is quite conspicuous, especially 

 when it attains a height of thirty-six inches or more, as it often does. It can 

 easily be seen at quite a distance. The true flowers, both staminate and 

 pistillate, are surrounded, as we see in the picture, by a five-lobed ccrolla- 

 like involucre. The early botanists mistook this latter for the petals of the 

 true flower; but we know better now. Note that the branches are forked, and 

 that the flowerheads are borne upon five-forked umbels. The ieaves are not 

 very large; they may be either lanceolate or ovate in outline, and always 

 smooth. The Spurge family {Etiphorbiacete) contains many species, some 

 of which are very beautiful plants. 



to study ; there are dry land species, climbing species, 

 amphibious species, and so on. Several of them present 

 \arieties, and this still further complicates their study. 

 For example, Neltje Blanchan says : "When the amphibi- 

 ous Persicaria (/'. amplubium) lifts its short, dense, 



