111. POLYGONACEM. [1. Polygonum. 



Ditches, etc. In the eastern moister parts of the province. Purneah (Kissenganj), 

 Kurzl SfLntal Pars;., Kurzl Fl. May-Sept. 



Stems sometimes '5" diam. below, deep red within (fide Boxb.). Leaves usually 

 quite white beneath, rarely glabrous above, sessile or shortly petioled. Stamens G. 



6. P. lapathifolium, L. Var. laxum. 



Erect, branched, annual, with glabrous stems, subsessile elliptic- 

 ovate to lanceolate or linear leaves, glandular beneath and with 

 ciliolate margins. Stipules sparingly ciliate or eciliate. Racemes 

 cylindric, erect or nodding. Bracts eciliate. Pedicels usually glan- 

 dular. Perianth greenish, glandular, strongly nerved. Stamens 

 usually 6. 



Hooker says " from Bengal to the Sutlej " and (possibly on this account) Praia 

 says '■ Behar." But I can And no specimens from Behar. It is at any rate very 

 rare. Madden says " ubique Ganges from Fattehgarh to Calcutta," but then 

 Madden mixed this species up with P. glahriim, from which it onlj' appears to me 

 to differ in its glandular perianth and subsessile leaves. Gage gives no Behar or 

 Orissa locality. 



Leaf base contracted, papillose, strigillose or hispidulous on the nerves beneath 

 and margins. Racemes lax, panicled. peduncles papillose, glandular or his- 

 pidulous. 



7. P. minus, Huds. 



Stems very slender ascending, glabrous, 6-10" long, often simple, 

 with linear sessile leaves tapering each end, •75-1-5" long, with 

 minute appressed bristles along the margin and usually on the nerves 

 beneath. Stipules sparsely or densely strigosely bristly and bristle - 

 ciliate, cilia shorter than the tube. Flowers very small, white or 

 pinkish turning deeper pink in fruit, in very slender erect racemes 

 •3-1" long. Bracts -OQ-'V glabrous, mouth subtruncate or rounded 

 bristle-ciliate. Style-branches 2, stigmas papillose capitellate. Nut 

 broadly ellipsoid, biconvex, polished brown, '06". 



Wet ditches, Purneah ! Fl., Fr. Nov.-Jan. 



Resembling a very delicate form of P. serrulafum, from which it is distinguished 

 bj' the small size of' all its parts, the appressed bristles of the stipules (strigosely- 

 hairy in P. serrulatnm), and especially the 2-fid. style and biconvex nut. Pedicels 

 included in the often coloured bracts.' Perianth -Oe-'O?" in flower, slightly larger 

 in fruit. Stamens 5 included. 



8. P. serrulatum, Lagasc. 



Stems decumbent below, 10-20" high, branches glabrous as well 

 as the peduncles. Leaves narrowly linear to linear-oblong, 2-5" long 

 by •!- -6" broad, subsessile, glabrous or slightly strigillose on margins 

 and nerves. Stipules and bracts with bristle-cilia from half as long 

 to as long as the somewhat strigose tube, stipules somewhat strigose. 

 Flowers white in slender erect racemes '5-1 "5" long. Stamens 5-8. 

 Nut deep purple 3-gonous polished "07" long. 



Marshes. Ranchi ! Palamau ! Singbhum ! Fl., Fr. Sept.-Jan. 



This is like a large P. minim with 3-quetrous nuts and is perhaps only artificiall.y 

 separated. Leaves tapering each end or sometimes subcordate at the l)ase. 

 Ovaries sometimes filled Avith the spores of a parasitic fungus (smut), and the 

 raceme then swollen and much larger than normal. 



9. P. barbatum, L. 



This appears to me to be merely P. sfagninum without the strigose 

 peduncles and probably P. stagninum should be reduced to a variety 



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