62 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



In cultivated ground and waste places, where the soil has been 

 recently disturbed, and in thickets and hedges. Common, and 

 generally distributed. Var. 3 " in the garden of Williams's, Shanklin, 

 and on the Dover at Ryde, Isle of Wight." — Bromjield. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Late Summer, Autumn. 



Stem slender, wiry, twisted, climbing to the height of 2 or 3 feet or 

 more when it has support ; when gro^ving without support decum- 

 bent, and seldom more than 1 foot long. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long, 

 somewhat resembling those of Convolvulus Sepium, but more acuminate, 

 and all of them stalked ; the lower ones solitary ; the upper ones often 

 2 or 3 together. Pedicels articulated immediately below the perianth. 

 Perianth greenish, often tinged with red" when in flower, usually dull 

 green in fruit; segments with rather narrow white margins exactly 

 covering and tightly enveloping the nut, the outer ones roughened and 

 opaque, and keeled on the back. Nut ^ to i^ inch long, dull black, finely 

 granulated all over with elongate points disposed lengthways. Plant 

 dull green, nearly glabrous, with the veins and margins of the leaves 

 and angles of the stem squamous-puberulent. When not climbing, the 

 leaves often turn bright crimson in autumn. 



Smith says the stamens are sometimes 0, and the styles only 2, but 

 I have not seen any specimens in this state. 



The var. 3 I have not seen : Dr. Bromfield says, it " is remarkable 

 as uniting to the habit and general aspect of P. Convolvulus much 

 of the character of P. dumetorum. . . . The perianth is almost as 

 broadly winged as in my specimens of the true P. dumetorum from Wim- 

 bledon in Surrey, but the wings do not taper down so suddenly into the 

 pedicel, and though it agrees with P. dumetorum in the elongation of 

 the racemes, the somewhat greater length of the flower-stalks than is 

 usual in P. Convolvulus, and the very distinct whorls of 5 to 10 or 

 more flowers, it has not the slender and graceful appearance of that 

 species." — FL Vect. p. 433. 



Climbing Buckwheat. 



Frencli, lienouee liseron. German, Wlndenartiger Knoterich. 

 Tliis is a frequent weed in corn-fields, producing seeds too small to be valuable as 

 human food, but possessing equally nutritive qualities with those of the true Back- 

 wheat, and is much rehshed bj poultry and most wild bii-ds. The small black 

 triangular seeds of this plant are often found among oats, and sometimes in such 

 quantities as to give a peculiar flavour to the meal, unless they are previously removed 

 by sifting. 



SPECIES III— POLYGONUM DUMETORUM. Linn. 



Plate MCCXXVIII. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 843. 



Annual. Stem round, twining, much branched. Leaves ovate or 

 triangular-ovate, cordate-sagittate or cordate-hastate, acute, stalked. 



