700 POLYGONACE^. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 



to entire. Racemes axillary and terminal, leafless, loose; pedicels 

 capillary; valves membranous, reticulate, reniforni to cordate-ovate, 

 .005 to .01 long, often deep red; scale oblong— Spring — Sands; 

 coast and southern deserts. 



14. R. vesicarius, L. JIandeU. Ilamma'L Hummeid. 

 .1 to .3, glabrous, branching from neck. Leaves siibcordate or siib- 

 hastate at^base, ovate to deltoid. Racemes simple or panickd; flowers 

 often twin; valves cordate-ovate, .015 long, membranous, reticulated, 

 margin (in type) 7iot bordered &?/ a nerve — Spring — Sands and rocks of 

 coast; and southern deserts; Tiberias; Dead Sea. 



15. R, ro§eiiS5 L. would seem to be a variety of the forego- 

 ing species with oblong-deltoid to lanceolate leaves, and valves bordered 

 by a iiej-ve—Jwdean Desert; Galilee; Sinai; Damascus. 



16. R, aceto§elIoicles5Ball. 71 .3 to .5; stems erect or 

 ascending, ending in a flexuous panicle. Leaves petioled, hastate-tri- 

 j}artite, the middle lobe oblong-lanceolate, larger tlian the linear, un- 

 divided or more or less parted lateral lobes. Whorls few-flowered, 

 loose; flowers .0015 long; valves ovate, obtuse, appressed to fruit but 

 free from it, thrice as long as outer leaves of perigonium — Summer — 

 Old fields and sandy places; Lebanon; Amanus; Akher Dagh, and 

 northward. 



6. ATRAPHAXI85 L. Atraphaxis. 

 Flowers perfect. Perigonium petaloid, 4-5-parted, -eaves im- 

 bricated, the outer unchanged, the inner growing in fruit, ajipressed 

 to akene. Stamens 6-8, filaments dilated at base, inserted at bottom 

 of perigonium. Styles 2-3. Ovary lenticular or triquetrous, with 

 crustaceous pericarp. Seed filling the cell, of the same shape, erect. 

 Embryo incumbent in angle of albumen, radicle superior, cotyledons 

 linear — Shrubs, often spinescent. 



* * Perigo7mim ^-meroiis. Stamens 6. Stigmas 2. Akene lenticular, 



1. A. §plnosa, L. 5 -3 to .5. Leaves elliptical - rhombic to 

 eordatci-oiblcular, .005 to .003 long. Outer two leaves of perigonium 

 ovate-orbicular, reflexed, inner two cordate- to reniform-orbicular, .005 

 long — May and June. 



Var. typica, 'Boiss. Greenish. Leaves elliptical to oblong — 

 Aintab, and northward. 



Var. glauea, Boiss. Glaucous. Leaves ovate to oblong — 

 Syrian Desert. 



Var. Siiiaica, Boiss. Suweid. Saicds. Leaves .003 to .004 

 long, round-ovate — Sinai. 



* * Perigonium ^-merous. Stamens 8. Stigmas 3. Alene triquetrous. 



2. A. Rillardicri, Jaub. et Sp. Fig. 320. 

 5 .3 to .5. Leaves ovate to oblong, (?^y\/^^:^ 

 obtuse and acute, .003 to .007 long. 

 Outer two leaves of perigonium ovate, 

 deflexed, inner 3-2, cordate-reniform, - 

 .01_ broad ~ Summer — Subalpine and 

 alpine Lebanon and Antilebanon, and 

 Damascus plateau. ' ,.^^.^,^„ ^^^J^^ ^, Atraphaxis 



Billardieri. 



