WEEDS OF THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. 



63 



THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. POLYGONACE.E. 



Herbs or twining vines with alternate entire leaves, jointed 

 stems and usually sheathing united stipules just above the swollen 

 joints. Flowers small, regular, arranged in various forms of in- 

 florescence : petals none ; calyx free, often colored, 2-6 parted ; sta- 

 mens 2-9; ovary 1-celled with 2 or 3 styles and a single ovule. 

 Fruit an achene, usually either triangular or 4-sided, often com- 

 pressed and winged, usually covered by the persistent calyx. 



About 35 species of the family grow wild in the State. Buck- 

 wheat and rhubarb or "pie-plant" are cultivated members. Our 

 wild species are known as docks, smartweeds, knotweeds and bind- 

 weeds, and flourish in various localities. Many ot them possess an 

 acrid juice. The leaves of knotweeds are small and slender while 

 those of smartweeds are larger and willow-like. The bindweeds 

 have mostly arrow-shaped or heart-shaped leaves and twining or 

 climbing stems. To the family belong two or three of our worst 

 weeds and a number of others which are less troublesome. 



16. RUMEX ACETOSELLA L. Field Sorrel. Horse Sorrel. Red Sorrel. 

 Sheep Sorrel. Sour- weed. (P. I. 1.) 



Stem slender, erect or nearly so, 

 6-15 inches high ; leaves usually 

 hastate and mostly from the root on 

 long slender stems, 1-4 inches long. 

 Flowers numerous, dioecious in whorls 

 of 3-6, nodding and borne on a 

 naked panicle; calyx reddish-green; 

 pistillate flowers tipped with 3 tiny, 

 crimson feathery stigmas. Fruit 

 longer than calyx, not margined, 

 covered with small granules. Seeds 

 brown, triangular, 1/20 inch long. 

 (Fig. 30.) 



Common in old cultivated 

 fields, meadows and pastures, es- 

 pecially those on sloping hillsides 

 or with a sandy soil. May-Oct. 

 Leaves very sour, often picked 

 and eaten. Spreading by run- 

 ning rootstocks as well as by seed 

 and often crowding . out feeble 

 growths of other crops. Its pres- 

 ence usually indicates a poor, 

 light soil, where little else will grow. This dock should not be 



Fig. 30. Male and female flowers shown on right 

 above. (After Vasey.) 



