30 



RUMEX L. Sp. PL 333(1753)- 

 Rumex spiralis Small, BulL Torr. Club, 22 : 44 .(1895). * 



[PLATE I.] 



Perennial, slender, glabrous, light green, somewhat glaucescent. Root- 

 stock woody, creeping, 1-2 dm. long; roots fibrous; stem erect, 

 8-9 dm. long, simple or sparingly branched above, leafy through- 

 out, slightly flexuous, strongly channeled, . woody below ; leaves 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 6-13 cm. long, 1.5-4.5 cm. broad, 

 acute or sometimes attenuate at the apex, the lower ones obtuse or 

 truncate at the base, the upper acute or acuminate at the base, all 

 rather long petioled, coriaceous, light-green, undulate and crisped, 

 neither prominently nor conspicuously nerved ; petioles strict, 2-5 

 cm. long ; ocreae cylindric, nearly one-half as long as the inter- 

 nodes; inflorescence terminal, simply paniculate, naked; racemes 

 (fruiting) 5-12 cm. long, dense, rather erect, the terminal one 

 usually about twice as long as the lateral ones ; calyx 2 mm. broad ; 

 pedicels varying from 2-4 mm. in length, jointed below the middle; 

 wings broadly ovate cordate, broader than high, i cm. long, 1-1.2 

 cm. broad, straw-colored, sometimes slightly constricted below the 

 apex, conspicuously and prominently nerved, crenulate and undu- 

 late, each one bearing an oblong-ovoid callosity, the three wings 

 strongly spirally twisted; achene broadly oblong-ovoid, 3 mm. long, 

 short-pointed, chestnut-colored, its faces nearly flat, its angles con- 

 spicuously margined. 



Found growing in the mud on the margins of ponds near Kenedy, 

 Games county, Texas, by Mr. A. A. Heller, collected in flower and fruit 

 on May 26, 1894 (1781). The altitude of the station is about 400 feet. 

 Its nearest relative is Rumex altissimus , from which, however, it differs 

 in having more characteristically lanceolate leaves, which are longer- 

 petioled, crisped and the larger ones more or less truncate at the base 

 instead of acuminate. The panicle of R. spiralis is more open, not 

 leafy, and its racemes are denser and thicker. Wings twice to thrice as 

 large as in R. altissimus invest the broadly oblong-ovoid achene. The 

 former are broader than high and strikingly cordate, whereas those of 

 R. altissimus are higher than broad, not strongly cordate and less prom- 

 inently nerved. So far as observed three callosities are developed 

 throughout. 



POLYGONUM L. Sp. PI. 359 (1753). 



Polygonum densiflorum Meisn. in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: Part i, 13(1855). 

 * Description and plate reproduced by Mr. Small's permission. 



