PERSICARIA TRIBE 101 



on cookery, as the Sweet Dock, and as forming an excellent dish. Scheele 

 detected oxalic acid in this species. The seeds, like those of the buckwheat, 

 are peculiarly nutritive to poultry. Okl herbalists called the plant English 

 Serpentary, Dragon Wort, Osterisks, and Passions. 



2. Viviparous Alpine Bistort (P. viviparum). — Spike lax, with bulbs 

 in the lower part ; leaves linear, lanceolate, their margins rolled back, the 

 lower ones stalked ; foot-stalks not winged ; perennial. 



This species, which is not infrequent on mountain pastures in various 

 parts of the kingdom, is abundant in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a 

 slender plant, with a stem six or eight inches high, and narrow, rich green 

 leaves. The flowers, which expand in June and July, are of a pale flesh- 

 colour ; and the plant is remarkable for its tendency to propagate itself by 

 bulbs, by means of which it increases rapidly, while it rarely forms perfect 

 seeds. These little bulbs are red, and are placed at the lower part of the 

 spike of flowers, taking the place of blossoms. The roots, which have similar 

 properties to those of the Common Bistort, are eaten in Sweden, Lapland, and 

 Siberia. The plant is a native of very cold countries, and the lemming, 

 which is the smallest quadruped of the Polar regions, feeds chiefly on its 

 roots, though eating also the grasses and A'etches which grow beside it. 



3. Common Knot-grass {P. ai-/ctilare).— Leaves narrow, elliptical, 

 stalked ; stipules short, lanceolate, acute, with few distinct nerves ; stem 

 herbaceous ; init about as long as, and covered by, the perianth, marked with 

 lines with raised points ; annual. This is not only the commonest species of 

 the genus, but is also one of the most frequent of our wild flowers. Some- 

 times it troubles the farmer in his cornfields, sometimes it is found among the 

 stones of the beach, or on the cliffs, or the heath or garden-bed ; and 

 wherever we find any little mound of earth by the way -side, there we shall 

 see the Knot-grass. It varies much in size and in the form of its leaves, 

 which, though usually blunt, are sometimes pointed, and which are in some 

 cases crowded, in others distant on the stems. The foliage and stems are 

 dark, myrtle green, furnished with chaffy stipules, which finally become 

 torn; and it bears, all the summer, numerous small greenish or pinkish white 

 flowers, which, before expansion, are sometimes of a rich crimson tint. 

 Though usually a straggling, prostrate plant, its stems are sometimes erect, 

 especially if the soil is rich. The knottiness of the stem gave to the plant 

 its old English name, and it is the " hindering Knot-grass " of Shakspere. 

 It appears that its decoction was formerly supposed to prevent the growth 

 of children, as well as of the young of domestic animals. Beaumont and 

 Fletcher allude to this supposed property ; '"Twere worse than Knot-grass ; 

 he would never grow after it." NotAvithstanding this, however, it has 

 always been well known to those who tend sheep, as being not only nutritious 

 to these animals, but much relished by them. Thus, in Milton's "Comus," 

 we find the shepherd saying — 



"This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 

 Had ta'en their supper on the savoury lierli 

 Of Knot-grass, dew-besprent, and were in fold, 

 I sate me down to watch upon a bank, 

 "With ivy canopied, and interwove 

 With flaunting honeysuckle." 



