THE PASSION-FLOWER FAMILY. 



139 



The tall crimson-flowered " Persicaria " of the gardens is Polygonum Orientdle. 

 Culinary or " French" sorrel is Rumex scutdtus. Besides these, and the universal 

 rhubarb, so splendid when its vast cream-coloured panicles open their countless 

 flowers, bulging out of curious sheaths, none of the Polygonaceos are grown 

 except by cultivators of the rare and peculiar. In their collections may some- 

 times be seen the Oxyria reniformis, (E. B. xiii. 910.) a little sorrel, with kidney- 

 shaped leaves, and a four-cleft perianth ; the Polygonum ochroleucum, and the 

 Polygonum viviparum, (Curtis, iii. 486.) an elegant alpine, remarkable for pro- 

 ducing abundance of little bulb-like plants intermixed with its blossoms, which 

 are white, and borne on a stem eight inches high. The most extensive and 

 successful grower of rhubarb in our neighbourhood is Mr. Osbaldiston, of 

 Baguley, whose acres are divided between this invaluable vegetable and the 

 strawberry. 



XXIIL— THE PASSION-FLOWER FAMILY. Fassijlordcece. 



Plants with very long, slender, half-shrubby stems, climbing, like 

 the vine, by means of powerful axillary tendrils. Leaves alternate, fan- 



,S5 



Fig. 108. 

 Passijiora kermesina. 



veined, generally with five or seven deep lobes, corresponding to the 

 principal veins, and with stipules of considerable size and beauty. 



