POLYGONACE^. 341 



corymbs, pink or white. Nut Y^ to Yz inch, ovate with 



acute angles, t. 226. 



A road-side weed at Ootacamund. Cultivated on the 

 Nilgiris, Plimalayas, Khasi hills, in Thibet and in temperate 

 North America. Fyson 1809, 2002. Bourne 4626. Fr. Ble 

 noir. Ger. Buckweizen. 



RUMEX. F.B.I. 119 VII. 



Dock, Sorrel y etc. 



Perennial, rarely annual, herbs with alternate often 

 radical leaves and small flowers in clusters at the axils 

 or nodes of the inflorescence branches ; and characterised 

 chiefly by the perianth being of six parts, three outer and 

 three inner ; the former remaining unchanged, the latter 

 in fruit enlarged, and one or more often much thickened. 

 Stamens nine. Nut three-angled : embryo to one side, 

 bent, with narrow linear or oblong cotyledons. 



Species 100 all over the world. 



Rumex ncpalensis Spreng. ; F.B.I, v 60, VII 5. Root- 

 stock covered with dead and dried roots, leaf-bases, etc. 

 Stem erect, repeatedly forked. Leaves ovate oblong, 

 acute with abrupt base, finely toothed, nearly glabrous : 

 upper leaves sessile, lower stalked. Flower-clusters in 

 the axils of leaves which become towards the top small 

 bracts. Flower 1/8 inch. Fruit 1/5 inch: inner perianth 

 segments fringed with long hooked teeth, t. 227. 



Road-sides, etc. Pulneys : near Kodaikanal. Nilgiris : 

 Ootacamund. Fyson 1810, 2079. 



Gen. Dist. Temperate hills of India, Asia Minor, South Africa, Java 



Rumex acetosella Linn. ; F.B.I, v 61, VII 10 ; Sheep- 

 sorrel. Stems erect, branched from the base or simple, 

 often reddish, slender. Leaves variable, from /^ to 2 

 inches, stalked, oblong-elliptic, acute, with or without a 

 pair of narrow divergent lobes near the base of the blade : 

 stipules small, silvery. Flower- clusters in slender 



