52 MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 
[Prate 13.] 
13. Polygonum acuminatum Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth. 
Polygonum acuminatum Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Noy. Gen. 2: 178 (1817); 
Sprengel, Syst. 2: 256; Meisner, Monog. 78, Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 14. ¢. 4 and in DC. Prodr. 
14: 114; Grisebach, Fl. Br. W. Ind. 161. 
Polygonum cuspidatum Willdenow ; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 256 (1825). 
Polygonum erectum Vellozo, Fl. Flaum. 4: ¢. 42 (1827)? 
Polygonum acuminatum var. Humboldtii Meisner in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 14. . 4. f. 1 
(1855). 
Perennial, stout, more or less strigose except the stem, leafy. Stem erect or ascend- 
ing, 6 dm. long, glabrous below, strigose about the inflorescence, dark brown, somewhat 
enlarged at the nodes, sometimes covered with the ocreae; leaves lanceolate or oblong- 
lanceolate, 6-30 em. long, 1-4 cm. broad, acute or acuminate at both ends, usually 
nearly sessile, strigose on both surfaces or rarely nearly glabrous, the midrib and lateral 
nerves prominent beneath; ocreae cylindric, 2-4 cm. long, strigose, somewhat loose at 
the summit, fringed with long stout more or less hispid bristles; inflorescence paniculate 
or nearly simple, the ultimate divisions ending in spicate sometimes geminate racemes; 
racemes dense, 4-10 em. long; ocreolae bract-like, sometimes imbricated, 3 mm. long, 
conspicuously fringed, sparingly pubescent; pedicels 3-4 mm. long; calyx white, 3 mm. 
long, four or five-parted to near the base, the segments oblong or ovate, obtuse, not 
punctate; stamens five to nine, mostly six, included; style two-parted, exserted; achene 
lenticular, obovoid or oblong, 2-2.5 mm. long, thick-pointed, black, smooth and shining, 
the faces strongly biconvex. 
The West Indies, Central and South America. Also in the Galapagos. 
