BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 387 



truncate or c-ordate at base, 6 inches long or less, long-petioled; flowering 

 branches in a rather strict panicle, leafless or with a few little-reduced leaves 

 at the base; whorls loose, not crowded, the lower remote, pedicels slender, 1 

 to 2 times as long as the fruit, tumidly jointed toward the base; inner fruiting 

 sepals ovate-deltoid, 114 to 3 lines long, with 3 to 5 thin triangular or subulate 

 teeth on each side ; grain 1 only or with 2 other small ones. 



Naturalized European weed in low lands about San Francisco Bay. 



Refs. — RuMEX OBTUsiFOLius L. Sp. PI. 33.5 (17.53), type European; Tre\. Rep. Mo. Bot. 

 Gard. 3: 91, pi. :!0 (1S92) ; .Tepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 157 "(1901). 



10. R. persicarioides L. Golden Dock. Stems soft and fistulous (at least 

 below), prostrate or erect, seldom more than 1 foot high; herbage yellowish 

 green, minutely pubscent ; leaves oblong or lanceolate, truncate or subcordate 

 at base, acute at apex, a little undulate, 2 to 4 inches long, rather short-petioled ; 

 flowering branches with scattered subecjual leaves, the whorls mostly crowded 

 or the lower remote ; pedicels very unecjual, tumidly jointed at base ; inner 

 fruiting sepals % to 11-4 lines long, acutely produced at apex with 2 or 3 

 awn-like teeth on each side; callous grains 3; fruit almost bur-like. 



Wet places by lakes or streams or in marshy lands. California north to 

 British Columbia, east to the Atlantic. 



LiH'S. — Nigger Slough, Los Angeles Co., Braitnton 1S77: Castroville, Ahrnms 4079; 

 Mountain Lake, San Francisco, Jepson ; Alvarado, Jepson ; Upper Lake, Jepson ; Butte Valley, 

 Siskiyou Co., Butler 1877. 



Refs. — RuMEX PERSICARIOIDES L. Sp. PI. 335 (1753), type loe. Virginia; Trel. Rep. Mo. 

 Bot. Gard. 3: 93, pL 32 (1892); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 158 (1901). B. maritimus Wats. 

 Bot. Cal. 2: 9 (1880), not L. 



11. R. paucifolius Xutt. Stems 9 to 15 inches high, in clusters from the 

 crown of a taproot; leaves mostly basal, linear to narrowly ovate or oblong, 

 entire. 1 to 3 inches long, drawn down to petioles 1 to 2 times as long ; flowers 

 on slender leafless branches; pedicels jointed toward the base; inner fruiting 

 sci)als round-cordate, finely reticulated, 1 to 1\C, lines long, much longer than 

 the achene. 



Sierra Nevada, 3500 to 9500 feet. North to British Columbia and east to 

 Colorado. 



Locs. — Mt. Whitney, Culbcrtson 4371; Mt. Goddard, Hall 4' Chandler 661; Yosemite, 

 Lembert; White Horse Lake, Modoc Co., Baker cf- Nntting. 



Refs. — RuMEX PAUCIFOLIUS Nutt. Jour. Acad. Phila. 7: 49 (1834), type loc. Flathead 

 River, Idaho, IViiftli. S. geyeri Trel. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 3: 78, pi. 15 (1892). 



12. R. acetosella L. Sheep Soerel. Stems tufted, % to 2 feet high, arising 

 from running rootstocks; lower leaves hastate, the upper reduced or the 

 liranches leafless and ending in the reddish (pistillate) or yellowish (staminate) 

 panicle;, pedicels as long or twice as long as the flowers, not jointed; staminate 

 flowers 1 line long or less, the pistillate rather smaller; achene granular. 



Naturalized weed; throughout the state, in places very common. The green 

 leaves are very acid. 



Refs. — RuMEX ACETOSELLA L. Sp. PI. 338 (1753), type European; Trel. Rep. Mo. Bot. 

 Gard. 3: 76, pi. 13 (1892); Davidson, Ervthea, 1; 99 (1893); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 

 156 (1901). 



3. OXYRIA Hill. 



Alpine perennial herb. Leaves somewhat fleshy, round-reniform, long- 

 petioled, mostly radical. Stems erect, bearing a panicle of small green per- 

 fect flowers. Calyx of 4 nearly distinct sepals, the 2 inner erect (appressed 

 in fruit), the 2 outer spreading. Stamens 6. Stigmas 2. Achene thin and 

 compressed, surrounded by a broad wing and thus or]>ieular in outline. — One 

 species. (Greek oxus, sour, on account of the acid leaves.) 



1, 0. digyna Hill. Mountain Sorrel. Stems simple, scape-like, 3 to 11 

 inches high, several from a large chaft'y rootstock; flowers on slender pedicels; 



