572 POLYGONUM. [CLASS vni. order ii. 



Styles two, as long as the stamens, bearing globose fleshy stigmas. 

 Fruit a smooth brownish compressed nut, crowned with the base of 

 the styles, the sides hollowed out. 



Habitat. — Waste and cultivated ground, dunghills, &c. ; common. 



Annual ; flowering from July to September. 



This is an extremely variable species, as will be seen by the varieties 

 most commonly observed pointed out above; it is, though so variable, 

 readily distinguished by the separate styles and the rough glandular 

 peduncles and flowers. The seeds are very abundant, and afford food 

 to numbers of birds. 



5. P. Persica'ria, Linn. (Fig. 651.) Spotted Persicaria. Spikes 

 oblong, cylindrical, dense, erect; flowers hexandrious, smooth, as well 

 as the peduncles; styles two, united half way up; leaves lanceolate or 

 ovate lanceolate, on short petioles ; stipules hairy, the margin ciliated. 



English Botany, t. 756.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 233.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. ii. p. 186. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 211. 



jS. incanum, Meisner. Leaves hoary beneath, flowers pale. P. 

 incanum, Willd. 



y. argentea. Leaves hoary on both sides. " Pet. H. Brit. t. 3. f. 9." 



Root fibrous. Stem erect or decumbent at the base, branched and 

 leafy, round, smooth. Leaves ovate lanceolate or lanceolate, entire 

 or waved, tapering into a short channeled footstalk, shining green 

 above, and often marked with a dark lunate spot about the middle, 

 paler, sometimes glaucous beneath, with a stout mid-rib and numerous 

 lateral branched veins, smooth or rough, with bristle points, or pale, 

 with hoary down, as well as the upper side, the sheaths of the footstalks 

 short, striated, hairy, crowned with a thin membranous stipule, and 

 fringed with long ciliated hairs. Injiorescence dense, oblong, or 

 elongated, cylindrical, erect, or slightly drooping spikes of numerous 

 greenish white or reddish flowers, terminal and axillary, quite smooth, 

 as well as the peduncles. Perianth cut into five roundish oblong 

 veiny segments. Stamens six, shorter than the perianth, ihe filaments 

 simple, and the anthers small, oval. Styles longer than the stamens, 

 two, sometimes three united half way up, the stigmas globose, fleshy. 

 Fruit smooth, brown, compressed, or when there are three styles it is 

 triangular, with obtuse angles, crowned with the base of the styles. 



Habitat. — Waste and cultivated grounds, dunghills, and wet places ; 

 frequent. 



Annual; flowering from July to September. 



This, like the former species, is very variable in its appearance ; but 

 with the above characters readily distinguished. 



6. P. mi'te, Schrank. (Fig. 652.) Slender Persicaria. Spike slender, 

 lax, filiform, pendulous; flowers hexandrious, smooth, as well as the 

 peduncles ; styles two, united half way up ; leaves lanceolate or ovate 



