Polygonum?^ PolygonacecB. 413 



Wet places in the low country ; common in the moist region. Fl. all. 

 the year; white. 



Throughout Trop. Asia and Africa. 



5. P. serrulatum, Lagasca, Nov. Gen. &^ Sp. 14 (1816). 

 Thw. Enum. 245. C. P. 2999. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 38 (not given for Ceylon). 



Annual, stems prostrate at base and rooting at the nodes, 

 then erect, 2-4 ft., slender, thickened above nodes, glabrous ; 

 1. sessile, 2-3 in., linear- lanceolate, tapering to both ends, acute 

 or slightly rounded at base, acute, glabrous except for a row 

 of bristly hairs on margin, stip. | in., nearly glabrous, bristles 

 few, stiff, as long as tube; fl. small on slender ped., racemes 

 f-2 in., slender, erect, bracts truncate, glabrous, with long often 

 spreading cilia ; perianth without glands; fruit trigonous, black, 

 shining. 



Moist low country, very rare (.''). Galle (Thwaites). Fl. Dec; white. 



All Tropical and warm countries. 



\_P. JIacddum, Meisn., is given for Ceylon in Fl. B. Ind. v. 39; and 

 P. Posembu^ Thw. Enum. (see P. minus) is quoted for it. Wight, Ic. t. 

 1 801 {P. Donii) is also quoted for this, which figure is unlike any species 

 known to me in Ceylon.] 



6. P. punctatum, Ham. in Don, Prod. Fl. Nep. 72 (1825). 

 P. perforatum, Meisn., Thw. Enum. 246. C. P. 2251. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 41 {P. alatum). Wight, Ic. t. 1804 (A nepalense). 



Annual, stems numerous, erect, spreading or prostrate, with 

 many ascending branches, glabrous, succulent, purple ; 1. ses- 

 sile, small, |-i J in., deltoid-ovate, but narrowed below, slightly 

 amplexicaul and auriculate at base, acute or subacute, glabrous 

 except the pilose margin, gland-dotted beneath, stip. short, 

 membranous, obliquely truncate, without cilia, with a tuft of 

 white hair at base ; fl. small, sessile, polygamous (fern, and 

 bisexual) crowded in small globose apparently terminal heads, 

 peduncles really leaf-opposed, very short, glandular-hairy at 

 top, bracts broadly ovate, with membranous margins or all 

 membranous ; perianth (in bisexual fl. compressed below and 

 broadly wringed) 4-lobed, segm. oval, acute ; stam. 4-8, in- 

 cluded, stigmas 2 or 3 ; fruit oval, compressed or trigonous, 

 finely shagreened. 



Moist region up to 6000 ft., mostly in the montane zone ; a common 

 weed in cultivated ground. Fl. all the year ; pink or white. 



Mountains of India, Java, Aftghanistan, Japan, Abyssinia. 



A very common weed on the estates in the hills. Our usual form is 

 small and prostrate or diffuse, with the nuts biconvex, and agrees well 

 with the figure of Wight's above quoted. 



7. P. cliinense, L. Sp. PL 363 (1753). 

 Moon Cat. 32. Thw. Enum. 246. C. P. 2249. 

 Fl. B. Ind. v. 44. Wight, Ic. t. 1806. 



