CLASS VIII. ORDER 11.3 POLYGONUM. 669 



Bistort is found in most parts of Europe. The young shoots in some 

 parts of England are called " Easter-giant," and formerly entered into 

 the list of herbs used in the North of England for making " herb 

 puddings," and are still used by the country people as vegetables for 

 the table. The root is astringent, with an austere taste ; it contains a 

 large portion of tannin and gallic acid, (on which account it has been 

 used as a substitute for oak bark), and to which it owes its reputation 

 as an astringent and tonic medicine ; but since the introduction of 

 Peruvian bark it has been neglected. The roots also contain a con- 

 siderable portion of starchy matter; and, after the extraction of the 

 astringent and bitter parts, it is said to be formed into bread in some 

 parts of Iceland and Russia : and the P. Sibericum possessing similar 

 properties is used for the same purposes. 



2. P. vivi'parunij Linn. (Fig. 645.) Viviparous Alpine Bistort, 

 Stem simple, bearing a solitary terminal spike ; leaves lanceolate, the 

 margins with numerous veins, and rolled back, the upper sessile, the 

 lower on long footstalks, oblong, lanceolate. 



English Botany, t. 669.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 237.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 185. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 212. 



Root with fleshy somewhat creeping underground stems, and 

 branched fibres. Stem erect, simple, from two to six inches high, 

 round, smooth, striated. Leaves alternate, linear, lanceolate or oblong 

 lanceolate, quite smooth, dark green above, paler and glaucous beneath, 

 with a stout mid-rib and fine reticulated veins, very numerous and 

 prominent on the margin, which is more or less rolled back, the lower 

 leaves on slender footstalks, oblong lanceolate, obtuse or heart-shaped 

 at the base, the upper leaves lanceolate or linear lanceolate, the foot- 

 stalk dilated into a sheath, crowned with a loose thin brown membranous 

 stipule. Injlorescence a long cylindrical terminal spike, of numerous 

 crowded Jlowers^ of a pale pink colour, each elevated on a slender 

 peduncle, arising from the axis of one or two ovate aristale thin pale 

 brown membranous braeteas, the lower part of the spike bearing small 

 sessile ovate bulbs, which, when they fall to the ground, put out roots and 

 leaves, and sometimes while on the plant put out two short leaves. 

 Perianth single, smooth, deeply divided into five obtuse segments. 

 Stamens eight, longer than the perianth, with slender filaments and 

 small ovate dark coloured anthers. Style three, simple, as long as the 

 stamens, with small obtuse stigmas, the germen triangular, mostly 

 abortive. 



Habitat. — Mountain pastures in the North of England and the 

 Highlands of England. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



This species is possessed of qualities similar to the last, but is not 

 applied to any particular use. It is remarkable, like many other of 

 our alpine species of plants, as forming bulbs in the place of capsules 

 and seeds, a provision which seems wisely ordained to secure the pro- 



