66 FOUNDATIONS OF BOTANY 
mostly solitary, on slender peduncles. Calyx bent in the shape of 
a pipe, yellowish-green with a dark purple throat, limb unequally 
3-lobed, rugose, reflexed. Anthers in pairs below the 3 spreading 
lobes of the stigma. Capsule oblong. Stems sometimes 30 ft. long. 
Rich woods S.* 
25. POLYGONACEZ. BuckwHeEaT FAMILY. 
Herbs with alternate, entire leaves and usually with sheath- 
ing stipules above the swollen joints of the stem. Flowers 
apetalous, generally perfect, with a 3—6-cleft calyx, generally 
colored and persistent. Fruit a compressed or 3-angled akene, 
enclosed in the calyx. Seeds with endosperm, which does not 
generally enclose the embryo. Stamens 4-12, on the base of 
the calyx. : 
I. RUMEX, L. 
Coarse herbs, many of them troublesome weeds. Flowers 
small, usually green or greenish, generally in whorls borne in 
panicled racemes. Calyx of 6 nearly distinct sepals, the 3 
inner larger and more petal-like than the 3 outer, and one 
or more of them usually with a little knob or tubercle on its 
back. Stamens 6. Styles 3. Stigmas short, fringed. Fruit 
a 8-angled akene, closely covered by the 3 inner calyx-lobes, 
enlarged and known as valves. 
1. R. Acetosella, L. SHrerp Sorrex. Erect annual or perennial 
herbs with creeping rootstocks. Stem simple or branched, smooth. 
Leaves petioled, narrowly halberd-shaped, usually widest above the 
middle, the apex acute or obtuse, upper stem-leaves often nearly 
linear and not lobed. Flowers dicecious, small, in terminal, naked, 
panicled, interrupted racemes. Calyx greenish; the pistillate pani- 
cles becoming reddish. Fruit less than 1, in. long, granular, longer 
than the calyx. A common introduced weed, in dry fields and on 
sour soils. Foliage very acid.* 
2. R. verticillatus, L. Swamp Dock. Perennial, stem stout, 
smooth, erect or ascending, 3-5 ft. tall. Lower leaves oblong, 
obtuse at the apex and usually heart-shaped at the base, long- 
petioled, often 12-18 in. long, upper leaves narrower and often 
acute at both ends. Flowers perfect or somewhat moncecious, in 
dense whorls, pedicels slender, 1-2 in. long, tapering downward, 
