380 



POLYGONACEAE 



scanty glandular pubescence on the peduncles and a scabrous pubescence on 

 the leaf-margins or the leaves beneath sometimes resin-dotted; leaves broadly 

 lanceolate, mostly long-acuminate, cuneate at base, 4 to 5 inches long, short- 

 petioled ; spikes axillary and terminal, oblong and erect or linear and nodding, 

 1 inch long or more; bracts ovate, acute; calyx white or flesh-color; stamens 

 6, included; achene lenticular or rarely triangular. 



Common along streams or in marshy lands, often whitening great areas. 

 Aug.-Sept. 



Locs. Yreka, Sutler 196; Howell Mt., Jepson; lower Sacramento Biver, Jepson; lone, 

 Braunton 1181; West Berkeley, Jepson; Alvarado, Jepson; Los Buellis Hills, Santa Clara Co., 

 B. J. Smith; Bakersfield, Heller 7839; Lone Pine, Jepson 5150; Los Angeles, Elizabeth Palmer; 

 Bamona, K. Brandegee; Calexico, Parish 8075. 



Var. incanum Koch. Small, slender; leaves whitish beneath. Berkeley, etc. 



Befs. POLYGO'NUM LAPATHiFOLiUM L. Sp. PI. 360 (1753), type European; Small, Monog. 

 N. Am. Polygonum, 54, pi. 14 (1895) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 161 (1901). P. nodosum Pers. 

 Syn. 1: 440 (1805). P. incarnatum Auct. Var. INCANUM Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. 711 (1837). 



7. P. fusiforme Greene. Stems several or many from the base, dark red, 

 assurgent, 2 to 3 feet high, the internodes fusiform-thickened above the nodes ; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, glabrous or strigulose on 

 midrib, 2^/2 to 4 inches long, subsessile; sheaths strigulose outside and at first 

 shortly ciliate at summit ; bracts obtuse, shortly ciliate ; racemes dense, 1 to 

 1^ inches long, usually paniculate ; calyx red in bud, mostly white in anthesis, 

 its segments 5 (or 4) ; stamens "4" to 7; achene "lenticular" or triquetrous, 

 black, shining. 



Colorado River Valley: Palo Verde, Jepson 5280. 



Befs. POLYGONUM FUSIFORME Greene, Erythea, 1: 259 (1893), type loc. Colorado Biver 

 near The Needles, N. C. Wilson; Small, Monog. N. Am. Polygonum, 70, pi. 22 (1895). Perhaps 

 too near P. persicarioides H.B.K. of New Mexico and Mexico. 



8. P. persicaria L. LADY'S THUMB. Annual; resembling P. lapathifolium 

 but sheaths strigose and the sheaths and truncatish bracts ciliate ; leaves sub- 

 sessile; spikes shorter and erect; calyx red or white, not glandular; stamens 

 generally 6, included. 



Widely distributed in North America. Naturalized from Europe. 



Locs. (?) Lone Pine, Jepson 5151; St. Helena, Jepson; lower Sacramento Biver, Jepson; 

 Navarro, Byxbee; Humboldt Co., Chesnut fy Drew. 



Eefs. POLYGONUM PERSICARIA L. Sp. PI. 361 (1753), type European; Small, Monog. N. 

 Am. Polygonum, 66, pi. 20 (1895). P. arcuatum. Greene, Pitt. 5: 201 (1903), type loc. Napa 

 Biver. 



9. P. hydropiperoides Michx. Perennial; stems 1 to 3 feet high, branching; 

 sheaths hairy ; spikes slender or filiform, often interrupted below ; calyx small, 

 flesh-color or whitish, not dotted ; stamens 8. 



Southern California: San Bernardino, ace. Parish; streams near the coast, 

 ace. Abrams; Visalia, ace. Coville. 



Befs. POLYGONUM HYDROPIPEROIDES Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 239 (1803), "Pennsylvania, 

 Virginia, Carolina"; Small, Monog. N. Am. Polygonum, 80, pi. 27 (1895); Abrams, Fl. Los 

 Ang. 122 (1904); Cov. Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 4: 191 (1893). 



10. P. acre H.B.K. DOTTED SMART-WEED. Perennial, rooting and decum- 

 bent at base, erect and branching above, 2 to 5 feet high, glabrous or the 

 margin of the leaves scabrous; leaves ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, attenuate to a very short petiole, 2 to 3 inches long ; sheaths mostly 

 bristly-ciliate, the short truncate bracts mostly naked ; spikes loose and slender, 

 1 to 3 inches long, erect on long peduncles or panicled; calyx greenish, con- 

 spicuously glandular-dotted; stamens 8; achene lenticular or triangular. 



Common in low and especially marshy ground or in moist mountain meadows. 

 Sept. An important bee-plant along the Sacramento River, the honey yield 

 as heavy as from alfalfa (M. C. Richter). 





