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Rumex.} POLYGONACEAE. 377 
herbaceous or sometimes colored, clustered in the axils of the leaves, or 
in spikes or racemes, forming terminal panicles. 
A considerable Order, bade over every part of the globe. 
Fruitin reoreaa nts, the 3 inner ones enlarged 
ng pe of 6 segme 
Fruiting of 5 nearly equ lal seg 
In Petlahein pantvelien is the beautiful Mexican creeper Antigonon nutamett Wk. rk 
1. RUMEX, L. 
Flowers hermaphrodite or diclinous. Perianth-segments 6, the 3 inner 
ones of the fertile flowers (valves) enlarged and closing over the triangular 
Stamens 6. Styles 3, very short, ai fringed stigmas. Embryo 
“arog curved, tae along one bs of the albumen, slender. — Coarse 
rarely s s. Flow numerous, small, herbaceous, but often 
. a u fii tne Bet ieg in whorl-like clusters, axillary or in ter- 
minal simple or paniculate racemes. 
A we genus with nearly the range of the Order, tak more confined to the temperate 
regions 
RG ovate- oblong, ar male flowers 1” ei valves of fem. 
fl. deep r red at las : 1. R. giganteus. 
Lower 1 ith cordate } pubescent; male fl. 2” tov 
valves of fem. fl. white at last 
1. R. giganteus, Ait. — Meisn. in DC. Prod. XUV, 53. — Woody at 
the base, in open grounds decumbent and only a few feet long, but in 
forests, when supported by trees, rising to a height of 20—40 ft. Stem- 
leaves ovate or oblong, 5—9‘ >< 1!/:—2'/2‘, on petioles of 1—2'‘, acute, 
rounded or truncate at the base, thin, glabrous. Panicles in the axils of 
the upper leaves, 8—12‘ long, constituting a large compound inflorescence 
2. R. albescens. 
t 
lanceolate leaves contracted at the base. Pedi 
of small deciduous ochreas, filiform, 4“. Flowers polygamous, but one 
sex much prevailing in a plant. Male fl. Perianth 1“, its divisions ob- 
long or obovate, the outer as long the inner ones or a little shorter, 
Anthers subsessile. Ovary small, vith capitate stigmas. Fem. fl. nth 
1'/2", its outer atta linear- lanceolate, eps and half as long as 
the inner ones. Stigmas penicillate on a short style. Fruiting valves 
without callus, cordate, suborbicular, 2'/2“, can prominently reti- 
culate, eroso-dentate or serrulate, — red at last, even crimson. 
Achenes smooth, triangular, with plane faces, about as high as broad. 
Embryo straight cylindrical, the siastedions little longer and broader than 
the thick radicle. — Mann, Enum. no. 397. — Wawra, in Flora, 1875, 
Pp. 188. — Lowest leaves not collected. 
He Attains its full > ag in forests at 
elevations of , but is also met with lower down. ame: a= ale» 
in Hawaii, «Uhauhako» in Molokai. — Meisner’s description to have been 
Partly taken from Oahu specimens which have to be referred to the ogg ar petro 
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