POLYGONACE^E. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 443 



21. P. dumetdrum, L., var scandens, Gray. (CLIMBING FALSE 

 BUCKWHEAT.) Perenntal, smooth; sheaths naked; leaves heart-shaped or 

 slightly halberd-shaped, pointed ; racemes interrupted, leafy ; the 3 outer ca/i/x- 

 lobes strongly keeled and in fruit winged ; achene smooth and shining. Moist 

 thickets, common. Twining 8-12 high over bushes. 



P. CUSPIUATUM, Sieb. & Zucc. Perennial, erect, stout and tall, glabrous 

 except the loose axillary panicled racemes ; leaves round-ovate, shortly acu- 

 minate, truncate or cordate at base ; outer sepals broadly winged in fruit. 

 Occasionally escaped from gardens. (Japan.) 



5. FAGOPYRUM, Tourn. BUCKWHEAT. 



Calyx petal-like, equally 5-parted, withering and nearly unchanged in fruit. 

 Stamens 8. Styles 3 ; stig'mas capitate. Achene 3-sided, longer than the calyx. 

 Embryo large, in the centre of the albumen, which it divides into 2 parts, with 

 very broad and foliaceons plaited and twisted cotyledons. Glabrous annuals, 

 with triangular-heart-shaped or halberd-shaped leaves, semicylindrical sheaths, 

 and corymbose racemes or panicles of white flowers, often tinged with green or 

 rose-color. (Name from fugus, the beech, and irvp6s, ivheat, from the resem- 

 blance of the grain to the beech-nut ; so the English name Buckwheat, from 

 the German buc/te, beech.) 



F. ESCULENTUM, Moench. (BUCKWHEAT.) Smoothish ; flower with 8 

 honey-bearing yellow-glands interposed between the stamens ; achene acute 

 and entire, smooth and shining. Old fields, remaining as a weed after culti- 

 vation, and escaping into copses. June -Sept. (Adv. from Eu.) 



F. TATARICI-M, Gaertn. (INDIA-WHEAT.) Flowers very small, on shorter 

 pedicels; achene very dull and roughish, the sides sulcate. An occasional 

 escape from cultivation. (Adv. from Asia.) 



6. POLYGONELLA, Michx. 



Flowers perfect or polygamous-dioecious. Calyx 5-parted, petaloid, loosely 

 persistent about the achene. the 3 inner divisions often enlarging in fruit, in 

 which case the outer are usually spreading. Stamens 8. Styles 3, and achene 

 3-angular Embryo slender, straight or nearly so, toward one side of the albu- 

 men. Slender glabrous annuals or perennials, with alternate mostly linear 

 leaves jointed at the base, and rather rigid truncate or oblique naked sheaths 

 and bracts. Flowers on solitary jointed pedicels (nodding in fruit) in slender 

 panicled racemes. (Diminutive of Polygonuin.) 



1. P. articulata, Meisn. Annual, erect, branching, glaucous, 4-12' 

 high ; leaves linear-filiform, deciduous ; flowers rose-color, nodding, in very 

 slender racemes, the calyx a little enlarged in fruit ; 3 inner filaments dilated 

 at base ; achene exserted, smooth. (Polygonum articulatum, Gray.) Dry. 

 sandy soil ; on the coast from Maine to N. J., and along the Great Lakes. 



7. BRTJNNICHIA, Banks. 



Calvx 5-parted; the divisions somewhat petal-like, oblong, conniveut and 

 coriaceous in fruit, the base and almost the whole length of the pedicel winged 

 on one side. Stamens 8 ; filaments capillary. Styles 3, slender ; stigmas de- 

 pressed-capitate. Ovule pendulous on a slender erect fuuiculus ; seed erect, 

 6-grooved. Acheue obtusely triangular, partly 3-celled, enclosed in the indu- 

 rated calyx. Embryo in one of the angles of the mealy albumen, somewhat 

 curved. Somewhat shrubby with grooved stems, climbing by tendrils fr<;m 

 the ends of the brandies. (Named for F. Brunnich, a Danish naturalist.) 



