rOLYGONACEiE. 55 



sagittate, with the basal lobes subparallel or slightly diverging or even 

 converging ; lower stem leaves similar, but with shorter stalks ; the upper 

 ones narrower, sessile, amplexicaul. Ochrea? at length laciniate, not 

 silvery, brownish. Branches of the panicle rather few, ascending-erect, 

 leafless. Pedicels about as long as the fruit petals, articulated a little 

 below the middle, spreading lialf-^N'"ay round the stem. Flowers dioecious. 

 Sepals reflexed from the fruit petals. Enlarged petals in fruit scarious 

 and coloured, suborbicular, truncate-cordate at the base, rounded at 

 the apex, entire, extending far beyond the nut, faintly reticulate, with a 

 very minute scale-like tubercle at the base, without greatly thickened 

 midribs. Leaves acid, green above, slightly glaucous beneath. 



In meadows, pastures, open places in woods. Very common, and . 

 generally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring, Summer. 



Rootstock slender, tufted, scarcely creeping. Stem slightly curved 

 at the base, then erect, 1 to 3 feet high, simple up to the panicle. 

 Radical leaves on long stalks ; lamina 1 to 3 inches long ; lowest stem 

 leaves few, generally with the lamina larger than the radical ones, 2 to 6 

 inches long. Female flowers 4 to 8 in a whorl : enlarged petals about 

 ^ inch long, generally tinged with crimson, especially round the 

 margins ; the sepals lying back along the petiole : nut -^^ inch long, 

 elliptical, triquetrous, chestnut, smooth, shining. Panicle of male 

 flowers denser than that of the female ; sepals and petals herbaceous, 

 with scarious white or red margins, not enlarging after flowering. Plant 

 dull green ; the leaves paler and somewhat glaucous below, frequently 

 tinged with red in autumn. 



The leaves are Yery variable in shape, but the lateral lobes are never 

 divaricate, though sometimes they are separated by an obtuse, instead 

 of acute angle. 



Common Sorrel. 



Frencli, Patience oseille. German, Sauer Ampfer. 



This plant is also known by the name of Greensauce, and is so common in all fields 

 and waysides, that few people are unfamiliar with its appearance or pleasant acid 

 taste. The leaves of the sorrel contain a considerable quantity of binoxalate of 

 potash, which gives them their acid flavour and medicinal and dietetic properties. 

 They have been employed from the most distant time as a salad, and on the Continent 

 are still cultivated for that purpose. In the markets of Paris sorrel is nearly as 

 abundant during the season as peas are in London. In this country the leaves are rarely 

 eaten, unless by children and rustics, though in Ireland they are still largely consumed 

 by the peasantry with fish and milk. Though the acid principle of the sorrel is in a 

 large amount poisonous, the herb does not appear to be at all unwholesome, unless 

 when eaten in very large quantities, as in some few recorded cases, Avhen it has acted 

 injuriously on children. In Scandinavia, according to Dr. Clarke, the plant has been 

 used in times of scarcity to put iu bread. The leaves contain a little starch and 



