POLYGONEiE. 133 



1. P. Paronychia, Ch. & Schl. Linnsea, iii. 51 (1828) ; Meisn. DC. 

 Prodr. xiv. 89. Stems stoutish, tough and pliable, ascending or prostrate, 

 1 — 2 ft. long, leafy above, below clothed with the scarious sheaths, these 

 ^ in. long, brownish and 5-nerved below, lacerate above : leaves sub- 

 coriaceous, 1 in. long, liu ear-lanceolate, revolute : fl. densely crowded at 

 the ends of the branches, the spikes more or less leafy-bracted : perianth 

 white or rose-color veined with green or brown, }^ in. long : sepals 

 oblong-obovate : stamens 8 : styles as long as the ovary : achene 2 lines 

 long, smooth and shining. — In sandy soil near the sea, from Santa Cruz 

 northward, flowering almost all the year through. 



2. P. Shasteiise, Brew, in Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 400 (1872). 

 Stems stout, rigid, ascending, 6—8 in. long, sparingly leafy : sheaths 

 with herbaceous base, and a 2-lobed scarious usually deciduous lamina: 

 leaves oblanceolate, acute, not revolute, 4—6 lines long : fi. 1 — 3 in each 

 of the lower axils, white or rose-color with darker veins, !%■ — 2)^ lines 

 long, attenuate to a naked pedicel : sepals round-obovate : stamens 8 : 

 styles much shorter than the ovary, persistent : achene 2}^ lines long, 

 smooth and shining. — Common on alpine slopes of the Sierra Nevada. 



3. P. Bolaiuleri, Brew. 1. c. Stems slender, woody and very brittle, 

 tufted and strictly erect, % — 2 ft. high : sheaths much shorter than the 

 nodes, herbaceous below, scarious and lacerate above, persistent : leaves 

 narrowly linear or subulate, acute or cuspidate, j^ — ig in. long, not 

 revolute : fl. solitary or few in the axils of short leafy branchlets, each 

 involucrate with a sheath-like scarious bract on the joint of the short 

 pedicel : sepals oblong-ovate, 1% lines long, rose-color or white, slightly 

 spreading : stamen§,8 or 9 : styles half as long as the ovary. — Plentiful 

 near the Soda Springs above Napa ; also on the eastern base of the same 

 range of mountains bordering the valley of the Sacramento, but evidently 

 somewhat local. Aug. — Oct. 



H— H— Annuals, with striale stems and less conspicuous sheaths; sepals 



mostly green with tchitish margins. 



•M- Branches leafu to the summit, floriferous throughout. 



4. P. AvicuLARE, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 362 (1753). Stoutish, much branched, 

 prostrate, the branches 1 — 3 ft. long ; herbage glabrous, bluish-green : 

 leaves oblong or lanceolate, acutish, 3^— 2^^ in. long : fl. on very short 

 pedicels : sepals 1 line long, green, with white or rose-colored margin : 

 achene broadly ovate, 1 line long or less, dull black and minutely 

 granular. — A very prevalent weed in summer fields and vineyards ; native 

 of Europe. Apr. — Oct. 



5. P. minimam, Wats. Bot. King Exp. 315 (1871). Low and slender, 

 simple or with a few branches, 1 — 6 in. high : stems nearly terete, 

 reddish, more or less scabrous-puberulent : leaves broadly ovate or 

 ovate-oblong, % in. long, acute : fl. less than a line long, erect on slender 



