584 POLYGONACEA POLYGONUM 
racemes: calyx green, a line long 5-parted to near the base, -the segments 
oblong, obtuse, with whitish or cream-colored margins: stamens about 5, 
included. Washington to California and Colorado, 
P. Watsoni Small Monog. Polyg. 138. P. imbricatum Nutt. not Raf. 
Glabrous throughout, stem slender and wiry, usually simple, 1-6 inches 
high : 2-4 of the lower leaves filiform, 6-12 lines long, the upper or floral 
bracts lanceolate to oblong 2-4 lines long, acute or shortly acuminate, ses- 
sile, green with very narrow scarious margins: ocreae silvery, 2-partedbut 
early lacerate, 1-2 lines long: flowers white or pinkish, mostly solitary, 
in the axils of the upper leaves, the lower one remote, the otbers crowded 
and racemose: calyx about a line long, 5-parted to below the middle, the 
outer segments longest, ovate, obtusish: stamens 5orfewer. In wet places, 
Washington to California and the Rocky Mountains. 
P. polygaloides Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv, 101. Glabrous and light 
green, 4-8 inches high mostly somewhat corymbosely branched, slightly 
flexuous: leaves linear, 3-18 lines long, acute, sessile: ocreae funnelform, 2 
lines long or more, 2-parted, soon lacerate: flowers in small clusters in 
the axils of oblong scarious-margined more or lessimbricated bracts at the 
ends of the branchlets: calyx a line long, 5-parted to near the base,white 
or pinkish, the segments with adark midrib, the outer ones longer 
than the inner: stamens 8, included: style evident, 3-parted to the middle. 
In moist places on open plains, Brit. Columbia to California and the 
Rocky Mountains. 
Supcenus v DurayviA Watson Am. Nat. vii, 665. Slender 
wiry little annuals. Leaves linear, not jointed upon the seari- 
ous lacerate ocreae. Flowers in slender many jointed interrupted 
spikes, mostly solitary and nearly sessile in the sheaths. Sepals 
5, colored, becoming somewhat appressed to the achene. Stamens 
8, the 3inner filaments but slightly dilated at base. ‘Achenes 
membranaceous, linear, nearly terete, obscurely 3-angled. Cotyle- 
dons accumbent. 
P, Californicum Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv, 100. Glabrous: stem 
very slender and wiry, erect, diffusely and loosely branched to nearly sim- 
ple: leaves narrowly linear, to filiform 6-18 lines long, subulate-tipped, 3 
ribbed, the upper reduced to subulate bracts: flowers solitary in the axils 
of the bracts forming slender terminal spikes: calyx a line or less long, 5- 
cleft to the middle at length exceeding the ocreae. On dry plains Southern 
Oregon to California. 
P. Greenei Watson Proc Am. Acad. xix, 294. Glabrous: stem slen- 
der, erect, 4-7 inches high, generally branched throughout, compact: 
leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, 2-6 lines long. almost hract-like, reduc- 
ed bracts above more or less imbricated and often of much the same size 
throughout, 3-ribbed, the margins revolute: ocreae 3-4 lines long conspic- 
uously lacerate, the segments subulate, numerous, rigid: flowers solitary in 
the axils of bracts and thus apparently in terminal leafy-bracted racemes: 
calyx sessile, a line long, rose-color, 5-cleft. not exceeding the ocreae: 
hc ea Sg included: style a line long 3-parted. Eastern Washington to 
alifornia. 
P. Parryi Greene Bull. Torr. Bot. Club viii. 99. Glabrous: stem 
erect, 1-4 inches high, simple to densely much branched, very leafy and 
bearing flowersto the base: leaves linear, 3-12 lines long, of much the 
same size throughout, subulate-tipped, 3-nerved: ocreae a little more than 
a line long, extremely lacerate, usually hiding the calyx and giving the 
whole plant a woolly appearance: flowers solitary in the axils of all the 
