POLYGONE^. 137 



abruptly spreading foliaceous border : fi. rose-red, in a dense ovate or 

 oblong terminal spike : stamens 5 : style 2-cleft : achene lenticular. — Not 

 common in California, but occurring between Berkeley and Temescal, in 

 low ground ; also in the upper valley of the Sacramento. 



19. P. Mnhleiilierg-ii, Wats. Bot. Calif, ii. 13 fl880) : P. amphibiuni, 

 var. (?) Mnhlnihenjli, Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 116 (1856 ). Stoutish, erect, 

 2—3 ft. high, leafy throughout, scabrous with short appressedor glandu- 

 lar hairs, with more or less of a softer ijubescence : leav,es broadly 

 lanceolate, narrowly acuminate, 4 — 7 in. long, on petioles of nearly 1 in.; 

 sheaths with no spreading aiargin : spikes 1 or 2, elongated and narrow, 

 1—3 in. long : fi. and fr. as in the last. — Perhaps as rare as the preceding; 

 but found by the author along the shore of the lakelet in front of the 

 U. S. Marine Hospital, San Francisco, in July, 1888. 



20. P. ainphilnnm, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 361 (1753) ; S. F. Gray, Nat. Arr. 

 ii. 268 (1821), under Persicana. Aquatic with floating leaves, or genicu- 

 late and rooting in the mud along the shores of ponds and lakes ; 

 herbage glabrous, or nearly so : leaves elliptical or oblong, obtuse or 

 acutish, very smooth and shining above, 2 — 5 in. long, on petioles half as 

 long : spike mostly solitary, dense, ovate or oblong, 1 — IVa in. long : fl. 

 rose-color : fr. lenticular. — Common in mountain lakes, both in the 

 Coast Range and the Sierra ; also in the sloughs about Stockton. 



-)—-)— Sleiris from s!oul creeping rout.s(,ock-s, simple, scape-like, leafy at base 



chiejhi; spike terminal, solitary ; styles 3, elongated; achenes 



tri'jiietrous. — Old genus Bistokta. 



21. P. Bistorta, Linn. 1. c. 360. Bistorla major, Ray, Gerarde, S. F. 

 Gray, Nat. Arr. ii. 267 (1821). Glabrous and somewhat glaucous ; the 

 ample oljlong-lanceolate radical leaves often 6—8 in. long, acute ; cauline 

 reduced and sessile on the long thin sheath, commonly revolute : stem 

 1 — 3 ft. high : spike-like raceme oblong, % — 1% in. long, white or rose- 

 tinted ; bracts ovate, acuminate : stamens and styles exserted. — Frequent 

 in subalpine meadows of both ranges of mountains ; the inflorescence 

 always shorter and broader, and the flowers paler, in the American than 

 in the European plant. July — Oct. 



■i— -i— -i^ Branching and leafy perennials from running rootstocks; Jl. in 



more or less racemose or panicled cymelets; styles short; achenes 



triquetrous. — Subgenus Aconogonon, Meisn. 



22. P. polyinorphuni, Ledeb. Fl. Ross. iii. 524 (1849). Stout, erect, 

 3 — 7 ft. high, nearly glabrous, the leaf-margins scabrous : leaves short- 

 peduncled, ovate- to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, connate or rounded at 

 base, decurrent on the petiole, 3—7 in. long : panicles loose, many- 

 flowered, scarcely leafy: sepals greenish white, 1 — 2 lines long, exceeding 

 the pedicels, shorter than the achene and not very closely appressed. — 

 Subalpine in the Sierra, from Yosemite northward. July- Oct. 



