140 POLYGONE.E. 



ascending, 1 — 3 ft. high : lowest leaves oblong-, upper linear-lanceolate, 

 3 — 6 in. long, acuminate, narrowed to a short petiole, not undulate, pale 

 green : panicle open, somewhat leafy, the flowers crowded : pedicels 

 slender, 1 — 3 lines long: valves ovate-rhomboid or broadly deltoid, l^g 2 

 lines long, entire or denticulate, one or two of them with large whitish 

 grains. — Rather common in low grounds, both near the coast and in the 

 interior. 



■i~ -h- Valves}^ — }4 i»- long, not grain-bearing; herbage glabrous. 



8. R. occideutalis, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 253 (1877). Erect, 

 3—6 ft. high, sparingly branched : leaves oblong-lanceolate, usually 

 narrowing upward from the truncate or somewhat cordate base, not 

 decurrent upon the petiole, 1 ft. long or more, scarcely undulate, usually 

 acute : panicle narrow, elongated, nearly leafless : pedicels slender, 

 M — }4 ^- long, obscurely jointed near the base : valves broadly cordate, 

 Avith a very shallow sinus, becoming about I4 in. broad, often denticulate 

 near the base : achenes 1^^ lines long. — Frequent in marshy places from 

 Marin Co. northward. 



9. R. hymenosepalus, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 177 (18.59). Stout and 

 fleshy, 1 — 3 ft. high, the stems and short petioles reddish and agreeably 

 acidulous : leaves oblong-lanceolate, scarcely rounded at base, somewhat 

 undulate, 1 ft. long : pedicels }4 — % ^^- long, jointed near the base : 

 valves very thin, reddish when mature, broadly cordate, 4 — 6 lines wide : 

 achene 2 lines long. — From the southern part of Monterey Co. southward, 

 and eastward to the Rio Grande, in low sandy or gravelly washes and 

 dry beds of streams ; also a weed in cultivated lands. A link between 

 dock and rhiibarb, and sometimes used as a substitute for the latter. 



10. R. venosus, Pursh, Fl. ii. 733 (1814) ; Hook. Fl. ii. 130. t. 174. 

 Erect, 1 ft. high, from running rootstocks, stout and with usually a pair 

 of leafy sterile branches equalling or surpassing the small subsessile 

 terminal panicle : leaves on short rather slender petioles, ovate or oblong 

 to lanceolate, 3—6 in. long, acute or aciiminate, only the lowest obtuse 

 or somewhat cordate at base ; stipules dilated and conspicuous : fruiting 

 pedicels 4—9 lines long, jointed near the base : valves entire, cordate- 

 orbicular with a deep sinus, ^4 — 1 in. broad, acutish or emarginate, rose- 

 color, very veiny. — On the eastern slope of the Sierra only ; a plant of 

 the Interior Basin of the continent, and of the high northern plains. 



* * (rlabruus perennials with reddisJi usually dia'cioas flowers ; valves 



not grain-bearing; leaves mostly either broad and rounded, or 



hastate, sparingly veined; herbage tender and acid. — 



Old genus Acetosa (the Sorrels). 



11. R. paucifolius, Nutt. in Wats. Bot. King Exp. 314 (1871). Erect, 

 slender, 12 ft. high, leafy below: leaves narrowly lanceolate, or the 



