40 POLYGONACEZ. [ Rumex. 
2. RUMEX, Linn. ; FI. Brit. Ind. v, 58. 
Perennial or annual herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves mostly radical 
or cauline, alternate ; stipules hyaline ochreate, often disappearing 
with age. Flowers 2-sexual or monecious, in axillary clusters or 
in whorls arranged in simple or panicled racemes. Perianth- 
segments 6, rarely 4; inner accrescent, entire or toothed, midrib 
often enlarged or tubercled. Stamens 6, filaments short, anthers 
oblong. Ovary 3-gonous, styles 3, stigmas fimbriate. Fruit a 
small nut, enclosed in the usually enlarged inner perianth- 
segments, angles acute. Seed erect, embryo lateral, nearly straight, 
cotyledons linear or oblong.—Species about 140, in all temperate 
and in many tropical regions. 
Flowers 2-sexual ; inner fruiting sepals coriaceous ; 
styles terminal ; leaves never hastate :— 
Inner fruiting sepals with narrow margins and 
few or no teeth :— 
Leaves gradually narrowed into the petioles, 
tips usually acute; flowers distinctly 
stalked ; inner fruiting sepals brownish- 
yellow. : : : u ; . (R. maritimus). 
Leaves cordate at the base and with a contrac- 
tion just above it, tips always obtuse ; 
flowers shortly stalked ; inner fruiting sepals 
much longer and almost black . : . 1. R. nigricans. 
Inner fruiting sepals with wide much-toothed 
wings :— 
Teeth of wings not hooked . ; : . 2. R. dentatus. 
Teeth of wings usually hooked . : . 3. R. nepalensis, 
Flowers 1-sexual or polygamous; inner fruiting 
sepals membranous; styles from the angles 
of the ovary ; leaves hastate C ‘ . (R. hastatus). - 
1. R. nigricans, Hook, f. in F. B. I. v, 59; Prain Beng. Pl. 888. 
An erect annual, 3-1} ft. high. Leaves linear-oblong, obtuse, contracted 
above the cordate base, margins often waved or crisped. Flowering 
branches rigid, spreading, with or without leaves. Flowers shortly 
pedicelled, densely crowded in globose distant whorls or confluent 
heads. Perianth enlarging in fruit, nearly black ; inner sepals large 
