POLY GONE ^. 139 



(3 — 5 ft.), erect, slender, somewhat scabrous : radical leaves oblong, 

 obtuse, cordate or truncate at base, loug-petioled, the blade 6 — 15 in. 

 long : fl. in loose whorls, on long pedicels, these jointed below the 

 middle : valves ovate-deltoid, 2 — 3 lines long, with 1 — 3 setaceous teeth 

 on each side, usually only one valve grain-bearing. Naturalized, but 

 rather sparingly, and in low lands only. 



2. R. PULCHER, Linn. 1. c. 336 ; S. F, Gray, 1. c. 275, under Lapalhvni.. 

 Erect, 2—3 ft. high, with rigid branches divaricately and widely spread- 

 ing : leaves scabrous beneath, the radical oblong or lanceolate (some- 

 times panduriform, acute, at base cordate or obtuse : fl. on short stout 

 rigid pedicels : valves ovate, 2 — 3 lines long, with 4 — 6 rigidly awned 

 teeth on each side. — Very abundant in fields and by waysides ; every- 

 where in our districts a troublesome weed. 



3. R. iiiaritiiiius, Linn. 1. c. 335. Low (about 1 ft.), erect, stout, from 

 an annual or biennial root : herbage minutely pubescent and of a pale 

 or yellowish green : leaves linear-lanceolate, the margin somewhat 

 crisped or undulate, short-petioled, the blade 1 — 4 in. long : inflorescence 

 compact, the verticils dense : valves 1 line long, ovate lanceolate, all 

 grain-bearing, and with 2 or 3 long-awned teeth on each side. -Common 

 near tide-water in the vicinity of Stockton. 



++ ++ J'alres entire or only denticulate; lierlxuje glabrous. 



4. R. coNGLOMERATUS, Murr. Prodr. Goett. 52 (1770). Lapathmn vir- 

 gatuin, Moench. Metb. 355 (1794); L. conglomeratvni, S. F. Gray, I.e. 

 273 (1821). Stoutish, 3—4 ft. high, leafy-paniculate above : radical 

 leaves ovate or lanceolate, cordate, slightly undulate : pedicels short, 

 stout and geniculate in fruit, jointed near the base : valves small, all 

 grain-bearing, ovate-lanceolate, acute.- Naturalized in many jjarts of the 

 State, but perhaps nowhere troublesome or even at all common. 



5. R. CRispus, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 335 (1753) ; S. F. Gray, 1. c, under 

 Lapa'hiun. Size and habit of the last, but panicles less leafy and more 

 condensed : leaves long-petioled, truncate at base, strongly undulate or 

 crisped : pedicels 2 — 4 lines long, rather slender : valves all grain-bear- 

 ing, ovate or cordate, strongly reticulate. — Very common in waste places. 



6. R. IJerlaiulieri, Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 45 (1856). Stout, erect, 

 2— 4 ft. high: leaves narrowly lanceolate, very undulate, more or less 

 acuminate, narrowed below to an abruptly cuneate or almost truncate 

 base, 6 in. long, short-petioled : pedicels 1 — 2 lines long, jointed below 

 the middle : valves ovate-lanceolate, II3 lines long, finely reticulate, all 

 grain-bearing. — Closely related to the Old World R. crispus, this is a 

 native American species, and is said to have been found at San Francisco. 



7. R. salicifolins, Weinm. in Flora, iv. 28 (1821). Stems clustered, 



