310 XCVIII. POLYGONER. 
2. EMEX, Neck. 
Flowers polygamo-moneecious.—Male: Calyx herbaceous, 
5-6-parted, the lobes equal, spreading. Stamens 4-6; fila- 
ments short; anthers basifixed, oblong.—Fem.: Calyx herba- 
ceous, 3-angled, funnel-shaped, 6-fid, enlarged and indurated 
in fruit, the 3 outer lobes continuous with the angles of the 
tube, spinescent and spreading, the 3 inner smaller, flat, erect. 
Styles 3; stigmas pencilled.— DC. Prod. xiv. p. 40. 
Weed-like annuals, common to Southern Europe, Northern and Southern 
Africa, and Asia. Stems depressed, branched. Leaves petioled, deltoid- 
ovate, entire. Flowers green, in axillary, often racemose tufts.—1 species, 
common through the colony. 
_ 38. RUMEX, Linn. 
Flowers bisexual, or polygamous or dicecious. Calyx her- 
baceous, deeply 6-parted, the lobes imbricate in 2 rows, those 
of each row subequal among themselves, those of the mner 
row enlarging and closely investing the fruit, coloured or 
veiny-membranous, 1 or more of them tubercled at base. 
Stamens 6; filaments short ; anthers basifixed, oblong. Ovary 
3-angled; styles 8, very short; stigma multifid—DC. Prod. 
xiv. p. 41. 
Herbs, rarely shrubs; many of them rank weeds, as the various kinds of 
Dock.—Several South African species, dispersed. 
4. POLYGONUM, Linn. 
Flowers bisexual. Calyx corolloid, 5-parted, the lobes sub- 
equal, entire, all similar, flat, or the outer 2-3-keeled or dor- 
sally winged, at length closing round the nut. Stamens 8 
(rarely 7-4), in the bottom of the perianth, often alternating 
with the scales of a perigynous ring; anthers versatile. 
Ovary compressed or 3-cornered; styles 2-3, sometimes con- 
nate; stigmas capitate. Nut not winged.—DC. Prod. xiv. 
p. 83. 
A vast, cosmopolitan genus, of which there are several South African 
species.—Herbs erect, decumbent or twining. Ocrez membranous, dis- 
coloured, cylindric, ciliate or nude or 2-partite or multifid, the floral mostly 
leafless. Leaves alternate, various. Flowers axillary, racemose, spiked or 
capitate. 
Orper XCIX. PHYTOLACCEA. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely dicecious. Perianth single, 
4—5-parted ; segments imbricate. Stamens hypogynous, in- 
serted on a convex disk or at the base of a disk that lines the 
