86 MIDDLESEX FLORA. 



lanceolate ; flowers in close elono-yted linear spikes leafy at the 

 base; bracts solitary, mostly twice longer than the flowers, 

 spreading, subulate and rigid, narrowed into a short awn; sepals 

 of fertile flowers 1 to 1>^ lines long, oblong and somewhat broader 

 above, obtuse or retuse, two or three usually slightly larger and 

 more acute or setaceously apiculate, distinct or nearly so ; stigmas 

 usually 2 ; seed circular, half a line broad." Bot. Cal. 



ACNIDA, L. 



A. cannabina, L. 



Salt marshes. Aug. -Sept. 

 A. rhyssocarpa, Moq. 

 Salt marshes. Appears to be the more common sj)ecies. Aug.- 

 Sept. 



" Fertile inflorescence very naked ; the bracts not half the length 

 of the fleshy utricle, the angles of which are not rarely rugose- 

 tuberculated ; stigmas comparatively short and slender-subulate 

 (in A. cannabina very long and filiform, almost plumosely hairy)" 

 A. Gray, in Am. Nat. 



POLYGONACE/E. BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. 



Polygonum, L. 

 P. Bistorta, L. 



Maiden, a weed in and about gardens (Mrs. N. M. Hunnewell) . 

 May-June. Adv. from Eu. 



" Stems usually a foot or two high ; leaves few, the radical ones 

 on long petioles, oblong-lanceolate to linear, acute at each end, 2 to 

 8 inches long, the cauline much reduced, mostly obtuse at base and 

 sessile upon the sheath; the margin often slightly revolute; 

 sheaths elongated; flowers Ih to 2i lines long, rose-colored to 

 white, on slender pedicels, in very dense ovate to oblong spikes i 

 to li inches long and usually long-pedunculate ; bracts ovate, acu- 

 minate; stamens and styles exserted ; akene 1^ lines long, smooth 

 and shining." Bot. Cal. 



P. ORIENTALE, L. PrINCE'S FeATHER. 



Sparingly spontaneous. July-Aug. Nat. from India. 

 P. Careyi, Olney. 



Lowell, Bedford, Maiden, et al. Not very common. July-Sept. 

 P. Pennsylvanicum,-L. 



Common. July-Sept. 

 P. incarnatum, EU. 



Lowell, Maiden, Waltham, et al. Not very common. July-Sept 

 P. Persicaria, L. Lady's Thumb. 



Very common. July-Sept. Nat. from Eu. 



