104 MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 
[Puare 39.] 
39. Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus. 
Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 362 (1753) ; Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 2: 619; Wal- 
ter, Fl. Car. 132; Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 2: 449; Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 237; Persoon. 
Syn. 1: 489; Muhlenberg, Cat. 40; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 269; Bigelow, Fl. Bost. 93; 
Eaton, Man. 370; Nuttall, Gen. 1: 254; Barton, Comp. Fl. Phil. 186; Elliott, Bot. 5. C. 
and Ga. 1: 453; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 255; Torrey, Fl. 1: 406, Comp. 171, Fl. N. Y. 2: 
152: Meisner, Monog. 87 and in DC. Prodr. 14: 97; Darlington, Florula Cest. 48, FI. 
Cest. 274; Hooker, Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 132; Beck, Bot. 300; Eaton & Wright, N. A. Bot. 
Ed. 8, 367; A. Gray, Man. 388; Gay, Fl. Chil. 5: 268; Wood, Cl. Bk. Ed. 41, 474, Am. 
Bot. and Fl. 283; Chapman, Fl. 8. States, 390; Darby, Bot. 5. States, 488; 5. Watson, 
Bot. King’s Exp. 315, Bot. Calif. 2: 11; Behr, Fl. San Francisco, 275; Greene, FI. 
Francis. 133. 
Polygonum aviculare var. angustifolium Michaux, Fl. Bor, Am. 1: 287 (1803); Nut- 
tall, Gen. 1: 254; Barton, Comp. FI. Phil. 186. 
Polygonum aviculare var. procumbens Meisner, Monog. 87 (1826); Torrey, Fl. N. Y. 
2: 152. 
Annual or perennial, glabrous throughout, of a dull green or bluish-green color. 
Stem prostrate or ascending, 1-6 dm. long, from a woody base, simple or branched from 
below or throughout, striate or ridged; leaves oblong, linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 
5-2 em. long, .1—.5 em. broad, usually acute or sometimes obtuse, jommed to the petiole 
by an articulation near the base, acuminate at the base, crowded or distant, not conspicu- 
ously nerved, sub-sessile or short-petioled; ocreae oblique, 4 mm. long, silvery, two-cleft 
when young, becoming lacerate with age; inflorescence axillary, consisting of clusters 
with from two to five flowers; pedicels slender, 1-2 mm. long; calyx green, five-parted 
to below the middle, the segments oblong, obtuse, with white or pink borders; stamens 
varying from five to eight, included; style .8 mm. long, three-parted to below the 
middle, included ; achene triquetrous, 2.5 mm. long, ovoid, acute, dark brown, rounded 
at the base, rather pointed at the apex, granular and dull. 
Common throughout North America except the extreme north. Also in Europe 
and Asia. 
