134 



BRITISH FLORA 



The habit is erect or prostrate. The plant is 

 dark-green, mealy. The lower leaves are opposite, 

 spear-shaped (hence haslala), triangular, the lobes 

 spreading, horizontal, acute, entire, and the upper 

 leaves are lance-shaped, entire. The flowers are 

 in simple or paniclcd spikes, interrupted, leafy 

 below. The fruiting perianth-segments are tri- 

 angular, rhomboidal, united below, prickly on the 

 back, longer than the fruit. The seeds are large 

 and small, the former dark-brown, rough, flat- 

 tened, the smaller black, smooth, shining. The 

 plant is 6 in. to 4 ft. high, flowering from July to 

 September, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Atriplex delloidea, Bab.— The habitat of this 

 plant is cultivated ground and waste places. The 

 habit is more or less erect. The leaves are mainly 

 opposite, triangular, spear-shaped, with spread- 

 ing lobes, the upper ones also spear-shaijcd. The 

 flowers are in dense spikes, panicled, the terminal 

 short. The perianth-segments are blunt, scarcely 

 exceeding the utricle, and are ovate to triangular, 

 prickly on the back, united only below. The seeds 

 are thick, black, polished, some dark-brown, 

 larger, and with large perianths. The plant is 

 6-24 in. high, flowering from June to October, and 

 is a herbaceous annual. 



Order Polvgonace.* 



Dock -leaved Knotweed (Pofygonum lapaihi- 

 folium, L.). — The habitat of this plant is fields 

 and waste places. In habit it is prostrate, root- 

 ing below, branched, smooth or glandular, nodes 

 thickened, stalked, spotted red, yellow, green. 

 The leaves are shortly stalked, egg-shaped, or 

 oblong, lance-shaped, not spotted. The flowers 

 are in a cylindrical raceme, terminal or lateral, the 

 flower-stalk rough. The sepals are glandular and 

 rough. The lower ocreae or stipules are loose not 

 fringed, the upper shortly fringed. The styles are 

 free, the stamens 5-6. The anthers do not pro- 

 ject. The nut is flattened at the sides. The 

 plant is 1-3 ft. high. It is in flower from July to 

 September, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Spotted Persicaria (Polygonum jnaculahim. 

 Trim, and Dyer). — The habitat of this plant is 

 reservoir banks, damp gravelly places, or waste 

 places. The habit is similar to the last, the leaves 

 spotted, broadly lance-shaped, glandular below, 

 wavy. The flowers are in long, slender, crowded 

 racemes, the sepals exceeding the fruit. The 

 ocreae are shortly fringed and loose. The calyx 

 is glandular, and also the flower-stalk. The nut 

 is flattened along the border. The height is from 

 I to 3 ft. The flowers are in bloom between July 

 and October. Spotted Persicaria is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Buckwheat (Fagopyruni escuhntum, Mocnch = 

 F. sagittatum, Gi\\h. = Pofygonum Fagopyruni, L.). 

 — This plant is found around towns and villages, 

 or waste places, and woods where game is pre- 

 served, being used as food for pheasants, &c. 

 The habit is erect. The plant is not prickly. The 

 leaves are heart-shaped, arrow-shaped, acute. 

 The flowers are in cymose panicles. There are 8 



stamens. The nut is 3-angled, acute, the angles 

 entire. The [>lant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering from 

 Julv to September, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Fiddle Dock (Rumex pulclier, L.).— The habitat 

 of this plant is waste places on dry soil, and it may 

 be wild in English pastures. The habit is erect or 

 ascending. The stems are wavy, with slender 

 branches which are spreading, the lips bent-down. 

 The longer leaves are fiddle-shaped, oblong to 

 heart-shaped, blunt, the upper lance-shaped, acute. 

 They soon wither. The margin is scalloped. The 

 leaf-stalk is slender. The flowers are in a panicle 

 with spreading branches, leafy throughout, in 

 distant leafy whorls. The perianth-segments are 

 triangular to ovate, veined, deeply toothed to 

 above the middle, pale, wedge-shaped below, 

 pitted, netted, the teeth short, straight. The 

 tubercle is oblong, prickly. The fruit is ovate, 

 acute. The plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering from 

 July to September, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Rumex sculalus, L. — The habitat of this plant is 

 old walls near houses, waste places. The leaves 

 are spear-shaped to ovate, greyish-green, fiddle- 

 shaped. The perianth-segments are not tubercled, 

 and are more or less round, heart-shaped, entire, 

 membranous. The flowers are green, polygamous. 

 The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in June and 

 July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Order Elphorbiace^ 



Sun Spurge (Euphorbia hclwscopia, L.). — The 

 habitat of this spurge is cultivated ground, waste 

 places, fields. It is nowhere native. The habit is 

 erect. The plant is more or less bluish-green. 

 The stems are simple or 3-fid below. The plant 

 is smooth, rarely hairy. The leaves are narrowly 

 inversely ovate, inversely heart-shaped, coarsely 

 toothed above the middle, more or less stalked, 

 sometimes wedge-shaped, with a rounded tip, 

 membranous, the lower smaller. The bracts are 

 the same, the upper ovate to heart-shaped. The 

 glands of the involucre are transversely oval, 

 rounded, yellow. The capsule is smooth. The 

 flowerheads form an umbel of 5, 3-fid, forked 

 rays. The seeds are netted, rough, deeply-pitted, 

 brown. The plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering 

 from June to October, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Broad-leaved Spurge (Euphorbia plaiyphyllos, 

 L. = E. slricla, Sm.).— The habitat of this plant 

 is fields, cornfields, and waste places, being culti- 

 vated. It has not been found in native habitats. 

 The plant is smooth or hairy. The habit is erect. 

 The stems are stout, simple, with numerous, alter- 

 nate, slender, ascending branches. The leaves are 

 linear to oblong, or inversely ovate to lance-shaped, 

 heart-shaped below, stalkless, spreading or bent 

 back, acute, with small, coarse teeth above the 

 middle. The flowerheads are in umbels of 3-5 

 rays, several times forked. The partial bracts are 

 heart-shaped, short, broad, with a small point. 

 The glands of the involucre are more or less round. 

 There are 7-S stamens in each involucre. The 

 capsule is smooth, with small warts, which are 

 hemispherical. The seeds are smooth, olive-brown, 



