POLYGONACEiE. 



61 



valued that, according to Bory de St. Vincent, the tomb of its first cultivator there was, 

 in his time, still pointed out to strangers as that of a benefactor to his kind. Though 

 scarcely worth ordinary cultivation in Britain, it is perhaps worthy of miore attention 

 in the drier parts of our island than it generally receives, especially on barren soils or 

 lauds recently reclaimed from heaths. As a green crop it has the advantage of not 

 suffering from drought, remaining quite fresh long after the grass is everywhere 

 burnt up. Bees are exti-emely fond of the flowers. In America, and some parts of 

 Belgium, it is common to sow Buckwheat for the pui'i:)ose of famishing these insects 

 with food, aud many old writers recommend hives to be moved to the Buckwheat 

 fields while crops are in full flower, as a certain means of increasing the quantity of 

 honey. 



Section II.— TINIARIA. Meisn. 



Stem branched, almost always twining. Leaves ovate or triangular- 

 ovate, cordate or hastate or very rarely truncate at the base, palniately 

 veined. Flowers m axillary fascicles, or the fascicles arranged in 

 terminal racemes or panicles. Perianth accrescent. Stamens 8. 

 Styles 3, very short. Embryo lateral ; cotyledons narrow, foliaceous, 

 and flat. 



SPECIES II.— POLYGONUM CONVOLVULUS. Linn. 



Plate MCCXXVII. 

 Billot, n. Gall, et Germ. N'o. 1054. 



Annual. Stem angular, twining or decumbent, branched. Leaves 

 stalked, ovate or triangular-ovate, acuminate, cordate-sagittate or 

 cordate-hastate, acute. Ochrea3 truncate, not fringed. Flowers in 

 lateral fascicles of 3 to 6 (rarely more), combined into terminal and 

 axillary simple interrupted spikelike-racemes, leafy at the base. 

 Pedicels recurved, shorter than the nut, articulated near the apex. 

 Perianth herbaceous, roughened, 5-partite, enlarged in fruit, when the 

 3 outer segments are bluntly keeled or rarely Avinged. Stamens 8. 

 Styles 3, united for the greater part of their length. Nut oval- 

 triquetrous or -trigonous, shagreened, opaque, black. Plant not 

 glandular. 



Var. a, genumum. 



Plate MCXLIV. 



Three outer segments of the perianth with blunt subhcrbaceous 

 keels in fruit. Flowers 4 to 6 in each fascicle. 



Var. i3, Pseudo-dumetorum. Wats. 



Three outer segments of the perianth with broad membranous 

 wings m fruit. Flowers 5 to 10 in each fascicle. 



