236 OCTANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Polygonum. 



P. n. 1555. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 257. 



Persicaria pusilla repens. Ger. Em.446.f. Lob. Ic. 316. f. Raii 



Syn. 145. Dalech. Hist. 1041 ./. 

 P. minor. Bauh. Pin. 101. Moris, r.2.589. sect. 5. t.29.f.5, 

 P, angustifolia. Bauh. Pin. 101. Prodr. 43. 

 P. angustifolia, ex singulis geniculis florens. Raii Syn. 145. 



On gravelly watery commons. 



About London in various places, as Tothill fields, Blackheath, Put- 

 ney common, &c. On Costesy common, near Norwich. Found 

 by Dr. Stokes in a gravel-pit on Malvern chace, Worcestershire. 



Annual. September. 



Whole plant much smaller than P. Hydropiper, to which it is most 

 nearly allied, but the distinctions pointed out by Mr. Curtis are 

 constant and all-sufficient. The stems are branched from the 

 very bottom, decumbent at the base, and taking root at several 

 of the lower joints ; tumid above each joint, like the foregoing. 

 Leaves very narrow, and flat, on short stalks, smooth, with 

 scarcely any lateral veins. Stipulas copiously fringed. Clusters 

 lax and slender, scarcely curved, on smooth slender stalks. Brac- 

 teas funnel-shaped, fringed, sheathing the partial stalks. Fl. 

 small, pale, reddish externally, without glandular dots. Styles 

 entirely combined, with 2 or 3 obtuse spreading stigmas. Seed 

 black, compressed, or bluntly triangular. 



** Sli/les 3. 



6. P. Bistorta. Great Bistort, or Snake-weed. 



Stem simple, with a single, spiked, cluster of flowers. Leaves 

 ovate, wavy, running down into the footstalks. 



P. Bistorta. Linn. Sp. PI. 516. M'illd. v. 2. 441. Fl.Br.4l7. Engl. 



Bat. V. 8. t.509. Curt. Lond.fasc. 1. ^.22. Woodv. Med. Bot. 



t. 34. Hoo/c. Scot. 1 20. Dreves Bilderb. f. 39. Bull. Fr. f. 3 14. 



Fl.Dan. t.42l. 

 P. n. 1559. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 258. 

 Bistorta. Matth.Falgr. v.2.296.f. Camer.Epit. 633./. Dod. 



Pempt. 333./. 

 B. major. Ger. Em. 399./. Raii Syn. 147. 



B. major, radice minils intorta. Bauh. Pin. 192. Mill. Ic. 44. t, 66. 

 B. britannica. Lob. Ic. 292./. 

 Serpentaria mas, seu Bistorta. Fuchs. Hist. 773./. 

 Colubrina. Brun/. Herb. v.\.6\, 62./,/. 



In fertile pastures and meadows j most common in the North. 



Perennial, June. 



Root creeping, fleshy, or rather woody, often bent or zigzag, power- 

 fully astringent. Stems solitary, simple, erect, straight, leafy, 

 1^ or 2 feet high, round, striated, smooth. Leaves smooth, 

 ovate, wavy, bluntish ) glaucous beneath 3 radical ones some- 



