54 MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 
[Puate 14.] 
14. Polygonum lapathifolium Linnaeus. 
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Polygonum lapathifolium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 360 (1753); Aiton, Hort. Kew, 2: 30; 
Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 2: 637; Persoon, Syn. 1: 439; Muhlenberg, Cat. 40; Eaton, Man. 
370; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 257; Torrey, Fl. 1: 404, Comp. 172; Meisner in Mart. FI. 
Bras. 5: 16, in DC. Prodr. 14: 119; Beck, Bot. 302; Eaton & Wright, N. A. Bot. Ed. 
8, 367; A. Gray, Man. 387; Gay, FI. Chil. 5: 267; Wood, Cl. Bk. Ed. 41, 474. 
Polygonum Pennsylvanicum Curtis, Fl. Lond. t. 73 (1777), not Linnaeus. 
Polygonum Persicaria var. lapathifolium Meisner, Monog. 69 (1826). 
Polygonum incarnatum Wood, Cl. Bk. Ed. 41, 474 (1855). 
Annual, stout, glabrous or more or less pubescent throughout. Stem mostly erect, 
3-6 dm. long, branched above or throughout, sometimes nearly simple, thickened at the 
nodes; peduncles and pedicels more or less glandular; leaves varying from broadly 
lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, sometimes oblong-lanceolate, 5-20 cm. long, .5-5 em. 
broad, attenuate towards the apex from the broadest part, acuminate at the base, ciliate, 
inconspicuously but thickly punctate, short-petioled; petiole and midrib slightly hispid, 
the latter and lateral nerves prominent beneath; ocreae cylindric, 1-2 em. long, loose, 
striate or ribbed, thin, brittle, slightly ciliate when young, at length eciliate; inflorescence 
paniculate, more or less compound, the ultimate divisions ending in spicate racemes; 
racemes linear-oblong or almost linear, 2-8 cm. long, mostly drooping, dense; ocreolae 
funnelform, 2 mm. long, very oblique, acute; pedicels 2-3 mm. long; calyx flesh-colored 
or whitish, 2-2.5 mm. long, five-parted to below the middle; stamens six, included; 
style 1-1.5 mm. long, two-parted or three-parted to below the middle, included; achenes 
lenticular or rarely triquetrous, 2-2.5 mim. long, very broadly oblong or broadly ovoid, 
biconcave, brownish or black, slightly granular but usually shining. 
Throughout North America except the extreme north, Mexico, Central America 
and the West Indies. Apparently introduced from Europe. 
Polygonum lapathifolium incanum (Schmidt) Koch. 
Polygonum incanum Schmidt, Fl. Boem. 4: 90 (1795). 
Polygonum Persicaria var. incanum Meisner, Monog. 68 (1826). 
