236 OCTANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Poiygoniim. 



P. n. ]555. [Tall. Hist. v. 2. 257. 



Persicaria pusilla repens. Ger.Em.446.f. Loh. Ic.SlG.f. Rail 



Sijn. 145. Dalech. Hist. 1 04 1 . /. 

 P. minor. Bauh. Pin. 101. 31oris. d.2.589. sect. 5. t. 20. f. 5. 

 P. angustifolia. Bauh. Pi?i. \0]. Prodr. 43. 

 P. angustifolia, ex singulis geniculis tlorens. Raii Sijn. 145. 



On gravelly watery commons. 



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

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

 by'Dr. Stokes in a gravel-])it on Malvern chace, Worcestershire. 



Annual. September. 



Whole plant much smaller than P. Hydropiper, to vdiich 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 fiat, on short stalks, smooth, with 

 scarcely any lateral veins, ^^ipw/crs copiously fringed. Clusters 

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

 tcas 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 

 blacky compressed, or bluntly triangular. 



** Sti/Ies 3. 



6. P. jBistorta. 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.Pl.olG. TVilld. v. 2. 441. Fl.Br.4\7. Engl. 



Bot, v.S. t.b09. Curt. Lond.fasc. 1 . ^.22. JVoodv. Med. Bot. 



t. 34. Hook. Scot. 120. Dreves Bilderb. t. 39. Bull. Fr. i. 314. 



H.Dan. t.42\. 

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

 Bistorta. Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 296./. Camer. Epit. 683./. Dod. 



Pempt. 333./. 

 B. major. Ger. Em. 399. f. Rail Sijn. 147. 



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

 B. britannica. Lob. Ic. 292. f. 

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

 Colubrina. Br un/ Herb. v. 1.61,62.//. 



In fertile pastures and meadows ; 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, 

 ovJitCj wavy, bluntish } glaucoys beneath ; radical one.s some- 



