340 POLYGONACE^. 



variable, in a dry or a fleshy perianth. Wight Ic. t. 



1806. 



Very common in the rich cool soil of woods, and as a 

 garden weed. Fyson 58, 3082. Bourne 10, 2365. 



Gen. Dist. Mountains of India, Burma, Ceylon, Malay islands, China, 

 Japan. 



Miss Edwards of the Lawrence Memorial High School tells me that 

 some flowers never open and it is these which produce the flesh-covered nuts. 



Polygonum strigosum Br. ; F.B.I. v 47, III 53. Stem 



1 to 3 feet, prickly (much or little), as also are the leaf- 

 stalks, nerves and peduncles. Leaves 2 to 4 inches, 

 oblong acute or lanceolate, usually glabrous above, 

 and also below except for the prickles : stalk % inch. 

 Racemes 54 to J^ inch, on slender peduncles of % to 



2 inches. Bracts ovate or oblong, fringed with hairs. 

 Stamens six to eight. Nut black, three-angled. 



In water and in wet places. Ootacamund by the lake side. 

 Fyson 670. Bourne 696. 



Gen. Dist. Mountains of India and across to China. 



FAGOPYRUM. f.b.i. 119 iv. 



Buck-wheat. 



Similar to POLYGONUM except for the nut being 



longer than the encircling perianth (which is not 

 enlarged in fruit), and the cotyledons very broad and 

 folded and curled round the radicle. 



Species 2, temperate Europe and Asia, cultivated everywhere. 



Fagopyrum esculcntum Moench ; F.B.I. v 55, Vsf I. 

 Common Buck-wheat. 



Annual. Stem l^ to 2 feet, glabrous, hollow. 

 Stipular tube about '% inch, with longer point. Bud I 

 inch, slender, acute. Leaf-stalks ij^ inches, blades 

 broadly triangular-cordate ; upper narrower. Flowers 

 nearly sessile, along the branches of terminal cymose 



