BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 69 



The yellowish green leaves are oblong or elliptical in 

 shape, and are two to four inches long. The minute flow- 

 ers of this genus are on the inside of a small fleshy re- 

 ceptacle, which in the edible fig becomes large in ripen- 

 ing. The mulberry and paper mulberry of this family 

 bear their tiny flowers on the outside of the receptacle. 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY (Polygonaceae) 



This family shows in nearly all its Florida representa- 

 tives the characteristic three-angled achene, like a grain 

 of buckwheat, around which the small corolla-like calyx, 

 instead of falling away as the seed begins to ripen, re- 

 mains as a covering, and often increases in size. The 

 corolla is lacking in flowers of this family. Stipules in 

 the form of a small sheath (ocrea) usually surround the 

 stem at the base of each leaf; smaller sheaths (ocreolae) 

 are present in the racemes, and, like the ocreae, show 

 diversity of form, being entire, fringed, lobed, or pointed 

 in the different genera. 



The smartweeds, of old medicinal use, the annoying bind- 

 weed, the beautiful Antigonon, or mountain rose, of 

 Mexico, often planted in Florida gardens, the docks, the 

 prince's feather, the herb patience, which "groweth not 

 in every man's garden," and the cultivated rhubarb, are 

 among the many members of this family, as, of course, is 

 also the buckwheat. 



Our Florida species range from trees to weeds, and in 

 northern Florida include a vine, Brunnichia cirrhosa, 

 whose small flowers increase three or four times in length 

 as the seeds ripen. Among the lesser plants a sorrel, 

 Rumex hastatulus, is a common and rather attractive weed 

 of winter and spring, when the reddish stems and ripening 

 flower-clusters are noticeable. 



