POLYGONACEJE. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 385 
SusonpER HL ERIOGONEZ. Flowers surrounded by an invo- 
luere. Calyx 6-parted. Stamens 9. Ovule sessile. Embryo included 
in scarce albumen. Stipules none. 
7. ERIOGONUM. Involucre 5-toothed. Woolly or silky herbs. 
1. RUMEX, L. Dock. 
Flowers perfect or. dicecious. Calyx herbaceous, 6-parted, the 3 outer lobes 
spreading or recurved, the inner ones (valves) mostly enlarged in fruit, and 
enclosing the 3-angled achenium, often bearing grain-like prominences on the 
outside. Stamens 6: anthers erect. Styles 3: stigmas many-cleft. Achenium 
S-angled. Embryo curved on the outside of the albumen. — Herbs, with alter- 
nate leaves, smooth truncated sheaths, and small green flowers in racemed or 
panicled clusters. 
* Flowers perfect or polygamous. 
+ Valves entire. 
l. R. crispus, L. Smooth; leaves lanceolate, wavy-crisped, acute at 
both ends, or the lowest trancate or slightly cordate at the base, and long 
Petioled, the uppermost linear ; panicle leafy at the base; whorls crowded in 
fruit; valves broadly cordate, obtuse, one or all grain-bearing. — Waste ground 
around dwellings, Florida, and northward. June and July. y — Stem 2°-3° 
high. Lowest boiro 19 Wig: 27-710" CUI SS ne x ios 
2. R. verticillatus, L. Smooth; lowest leaves oblong, obtuse or cordate 
at the base, flat, the others lanceolate, acute at each end; panicle naked, loose- 
flowered ; pedicels slender, thickened upward, reflexed in fruit ; valves ovate, 
obtuse, rugose-veined, each bearing a large grain, which is half as wide as the 
valve. (R. Britannicus, Æl.) — Swamps and ditches, Florida, and northward. 
May and June. || — Stem 1°-2° high. Lowest leaves 19°- 11? long, 
3. R. Floridanus, Meisner. Smooth; stem stout, branching; leaves 
lanceolate, acute at each end; panicle naked, dense-flowered ; pedicels about 
twice as long as the valves, thickened upward, reflexed in fruit; valves deltoid- 
ovate, obtusely pointed, each bearing a narrow grain, which is much narrower 
than the reticulate valve. — Deep tiver-swamps, West and South Florida. June. 
4— Stem 29 - 39 high. Leaves j?- 13? long. ; 
4. R. sanguineus, L. Lowest leaves oblong, cordate, acute or obtuse, 
the upper lanceolate, acute, obtuse or cordate at the base, wavy-margined ; pan- 
icle leafless ; lower whorls distant; pedicels very short; valves oblong, longer 
than the pedicel, one only prominently grain-bearing.— Around Charleston, 
Elliott. New Berne, Croom. Introduced. June and July. 1— Stem 2°-3° 
high. Lowest leaves large, variegated with red veins. 
+ + Valves toothed or bristly on the margins. 
. 5. R. obtusifolius, L. Stem roughish ; lowest leaves large, o 
AS 
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