- Potyconvum.] POLYGONACEZ. 35 
In ditches and wet places, chiefly in the northern portion of the area, 
from Dehra Dun eastwards along the Sub-Himalayan tracts. Flowers 
during the rainy season. Distris.: Rajputana, and on the outer 
Himalayan ranges from the Punjab to Sikkim, ascending to 5,000 ft. 
in Garhwal and Kumaon ; also in Bengal, Assam and Burma; and 
extending to China, Java, the Philippines, Egypt, Trop. and 8. Africa, 
America and N. Australia. 
5. P. glabrum, Willd. Sp. Pl. ii, 447; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 287; 
Royle IU. 313 3: F. B. I. v, 34; Watt E. D.; Collett Fl. Siml. 422 ; 
Prain Beng. Pl. 886 ; Gage l. c. 393 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 514. 
An erect glabrous annual, 2-5 ft. high. Stems stout, simple or slightly 
branched, procumbent below and usually tinged with red. Leaves 
3-9 in. long, lanceolate, acuminate, tapering at the base, glabrous and 
usually gland-dotted, lateral nerves close ; petioles 3-4 in. ; stipules 
1-14 in. long, closely embracing the stems when young, veins con- 
spicuous, mouth truncate, eciliate. Racemes erect, slender, 2-4 in. 
long, forming a terminal panicle, peduncles usually glabrous ; bracts 
glabrous, }4 in. long, ovate, obtuse; margins membranous, rarely 
ciliate, Perianth }-} in. long, pink or white, not glandular ; segments 
ovate-oblong, obtuse. Stamens 6-8. Styles2, rarely 3, connate 
below. Nutlets } in. in diam., sub-orbicular and biconvex, or 3-angled 
in the 3-styled flowers. 
Abundant in all parts of the area in swamps and by streams, DistTRIB. : 
Throughout the greater part of India in wet places, ascending to 
6,000 ft. on the Himalaya, also in Ceylon. It is found also in China, 
Australia, Africa and America. Hooker (in F.B.L., 1. c.) notes that 
it is difficult to separate this species from smooth forms of P. Per- 
sicaria, of which it may be regarded as the tropical representative 
in India. It is, however, as he says, a much larger plant, less branched 
and with more attenuate leaves, which turn brown when drying ; 
also in normal specimens the stipules and bracts are eciliate. The 
pungent leaves and young shoots are cooked by the natives in certain 
parts of India and eaten as an adjunct to other vegetables, 
6. P. lapathifolium, Linn. Sp. Pl. 360; F. B. I. v, 35 (var. 
taxa) ; Gagel.c. 395 ; Prain Beng. Pl. 886 ; Duthie in Strachey Cat. 
Pl. Kumaon (1906) 258. P.laxum, Reichb. P. nutans, Roxb. Fl. 
Ind, ti, 285. P. simlense, Royle ex Bab. in Trans. Linn, Soc. xviii 
(1841), 102 ; Collett Fl. Siml. 422 (in part). P. quadrifidum, Herb. 
S. and W. No. 24). 
