80 MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 
[Prate 27.] 
27. Polygonum hydropiperoides Michaux. 
Polygonum barbatum Walter, Fl. Car. 131 (1788)? not Linnaeus; Muhlenberg, Cat. 
40; Elliott, Bot. S. C. and Ga. 1: 456; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 253; Eaton & Wright, N. A. 
Bot. Ed. 8, 368. 
Polygonum hydropiperoides Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 239 (1803); Pursh, Fl. Am. 
Sept. 270; Meisner, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 17 and in DC. Prodr. 14: 103; Bigelow, FI. Bost. 
1: 156; A. Gray, Man. 387; Chapman, FI. 8. States, 389; Wood, Am. Bot. and Fl. 283. 
Polygonum mite Persoon, Syn. 1: 446 (1805), not Schrank; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 
270; Eaton, Man. 371; Elliott, Bot. 5S. C. and Ga. 1: 456; Torrey, Fl. 1: 402, Comp. 
172, Fl. N. Y. 2: 150; Meisner, Monog. 75 and in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 17, as synonym; 
Sprengel, Syst. 2: 253; Darlington, Florula Cest. 48, Fl. Cest. 249; Beck, Bot. 301; Eaton 
& Wright, N. A. Bot. Ed. 8, 367; Wood, Cl. Bk. Ed. 41, 474; Darby, Bot. 8. States, 489. 
Polygonum virgatum Chamisso & Schlechtendal, Linnaea, 3: 45 (1828); Gay, FI. 
Chil. 5: 268. 
Polygonum hydropiperoides var. virgatum Meisner in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 17 (1855) and 
in DC. Prodr. 14: 103. 
Perennial, glabrous or sometimes slightly strigillose, often tinged with red through- 
out. Stem erect or the base decumbent and creeping, 3-9 dm. long, nearly simple or 
branched above, glabrous or somewhat strigillose about the bases of the ocreae, enlarged 
at the nodes; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes linear-lanceolate, 4-13 
em. long, .3-1.8 em. broad, glabrous especially above or obscurely strigillose, acute at 
both ends, ciliate, papillose on the lower surface, arising from the base of the ocreae, 
short-petioled, the midrib clothed with short hairs; ocreae cylindric or funnelform at 
branching nodes, 1-1.8 cm. long, loose, strigose, fringed with long bristles; inflorescence 
paniculate, nearly simple or more or less compound, the ultimate divisions ending in 
spicate somewhat geminate racemes; racemes narrowly cylindric or almost linear, 3-6 em. 
long, erect, more or less interrupted; ocreolae funnelform, 2.5-3 mm. long, oblique, 
fringed with short bristles; pedicels 2-3 mm. long; calyx about 2 mm. long, flesh-colored 
or sometimes greenish, five-parted to below the middle, the segments oblong or obovate, 
obtuse or acutish, glandular; stamens eight, included; style less than 1 mm. long, three- 
parted to below the middle, at length protruding beyond the calyx; achene triquetrous, 
about 3 mm. long, ovoid or broadly oblong, pointed at the apex, black, smooth and shining. 
New Brunswick to California, south to Florida and Mexico. Also in Brazil. 
