POLYGONACE^. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 443 



21. P. duraetorum, L., var scandens, Gray, (Climbing False 

 Buckwheat.) Perennial, smooth; sheaths naked; leaves heart-shaped or 

 slightly halberd-shaped, pointed ; racemes interrupted, leafy ; the 3 outer ca/i/.r 

 lobes strong! ij keeled and m fruit irhirjed ; achene smooth and shining. — Moist 

 thickets, common. Twining 8-12° high over bushes 



P. cuspiDATi'M, Sieb. & Zucc. Perennial, erect, stout and tall, glabrous 

 except the loose axillary panicled racemes ; leaves round-ovate, shortly acu 

 minate, truncate or cordate at base; outer sepals broadly winged in fruit.-- 

 Occasionally escaped from gardens. (Japan.) 



5. FAGOPYRUM, Tourn. Buckwheat. 



Calyx petal-like, equally 5-parted, withering and nearly unchanged in fruit 

 Stamens 8. Styles 3 ; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-sided, longer than the calyx. 

 Embryo large, in the centre of the albumen, which it divides into 2 parts, with 

 very broad and foliaceous plaited and twisted cotyledons. — Glabrous annuals, 

 with triangular-heart-shaped or halberd-shaped leaves, semicylindrical slieaths, 

 and corymbose racemes or panicles of white tlowers, often tinged with green or 

 rose-color. (Xame from /(///«s, the beecli, and Trupos, ?r/ifa^ from the resem- 

 blance of the grain to the beech-nut ; so the P^nglish name Buckwheat, from 

 the German buche, beech.) 



P. ESCULENTUM, Mocuch. (BucKWHEAT.) Smoothish ; flower with 8 

 honey -bearing yellow-glands interposed between the stamens; aclieue acute 

 and entire, smooth and sliining. — Old fields, remaining as a weed after culti- 

 vation, and escaping into copses. June-8ept. (Adv. from Eu.) 



P. Tataricu.m, Gaertn. (India-wheat.) Flowers very small, on shorter 

 pedicels; achene very dull and roughish, the sides sulcate. — An occasional 

 escape from cultivation. (Adv. from Asia.) 



6. POLYGONELLA, Michx. 



Flowers perfect or polygamous-dioecious. Calyx 5-parted, petaloid, loosely 

 persistent about the achene. the 3 inner divisions often enlarging in fruit, in 

 which case the outer are usually spreading. Stamens 8. Styles 3, and achene 

 3-angular Embryo slender, straight or nearly so, toward one side of tlie albu- 

 men. — Slender glabrous annuals or perennials, with alternate mostly linear 

 leaves jointed at the base, and rather rigid truncate or oblique naked sheatlis 

 and bracts. Flowers on solitary jointed pedicels (nodding in fruit) in slender 

 panicled racemes. (Diminutive of Polygonum.) 



1. P. articulata, Meisn. Annual, erect, branching, glaucous, 4-12' 

 high; leaves linear-filiform, deciduous; flowers rose-color, nodding, in very 

 slender racemes, the calyx a little enL rged in fruit ; 3 inner filaments dilated 

 at base ; achone exserted, smooth. (Polygonum articulatum, Graij.) — Dry, 

 ^andy soil ; on the coast from Maine to N. J., and along the Great Lakes. 



7. BRUNNICHIA, Banks 



Calyx 5-parted ; the divi.sions somewhat petal-like, oblong, connivent and 

 coriaceous in fruit, the base and almost the whole length of the pedicel wmged 

 on one side. Stamens 8; filaments capillary. Styles 3, slender; stigmas de- 

 pressed-capitate. Ovule pendulous on a slender erect funiculus ; seed erect. 

 6-grooved. Achene obtusely triangular, partly 3-celled, enclosed in the iudu 

 rated calyx. Embryo in one of the angles of the mealy albumen, somewlia 

 curved. — Somewhat shrubby with grooved stems, cliinhing by tendrils froip 

 the ends of the branches. (Named for F. Brunmch, a Danish naturalist ) 



