2-i cxix. POLYGONACE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Polygonum. 



Sect. 2. ELEUTHEEOSPEEMA. Slender annuals. Flowers in terminal and axillary 

 clusters. Styles minute free. Seed loose in tbe triquetrous nut. 



B. Stipules tubular elongate. Sp. 2-3. 



Sect. 3. AVICTTLABIA. Herbs. Leaves small ; stipules hyaline, cleft or torn. 

 Flowers axillary. Styles minute free. Albumen horny. Sp. 4-11. 



Sect. 4. AMBLYGONON. Perennial-rooted herbs. Flowers in spiciform racemes ; 

 bracts tubular, truncate. Nut orbicular ; cotyledons incumbent. Sp. 12-14. 



Sect. 5. TOYAKA. A perennial-rooted tall herb. Leaves broad. Flowers distant 

 in very slender racemes ; bracts tubular. Nut flattened with 2 rigid persistent hooked 

 styles. Sp. 15. 



Sect. 6. BISTOETA. Erect or prostrate annual or perennial-rooted herbs. 

 Flowers in spiciform racemes ; bracts hyaline, ovate or lanceolate not tubular. 

 Sp. 16-23. 



Sect. 7. PEESICAETA. Erect or decumbent unarmed often glandular annuals or 

 perennials. Leaves narrow. Flowers in slender or dense spiciform racemes; bracts 

 tubular. Sp. 24-38. 



Sect. 8. CEPHALOPHILON. Erect or prostrate unarmed annuals rarely perennials 

 or shrubs. Leaves broad, sometimes lobed or auricled. Flowers capitate ; bracts not 

 tubular. Sp. 39-48. 



Sect. 9. ECHINOCAULON. Erect or ascending usually prickly annuals. Leaves 

 usually broad, often hastate. Flowers capitate or racemose, bracts tubular. (Hardly 

 distinct from Cephalophilon.} Sp. 49 55. 



Sect. 10. ACONOGONON. Erect shrubs, rarely herbs. Flowers in branched 

 panicles; bracts open or very shortly tubular. Sp. 56-67. 



Sect. 11. TINIAEIA. .Twining herbs. Leaves broad, hastate or cordate. Flowers 

 in axillary clusters or slender racemes ; bracts not tubular. Sp. 68-70. 



Sect. I. KCENIGIA, Hook. f. A minute annual. Leaves often oppo- 

 site ; stipules short 2-lobed or -partite. Flowers in terminal and axillary 

 clusters or heads ; bracts not tubular or sheathing. Perianth 3-5-cleft. 

 Stamens 1-5 without interposed glands. Stigmas 2-3, subsessile. Nut 

 subterete or compressed ; cotyledons accumbent. 



_ 1. P. islandicum, Hook. f. ; glabrous, leaves obovate, flowers very 

 minute. Kcenigia islandica, Linn.\ Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv.'l. 83; 

 Lamk. III. t. 51 ; Fl. Dan. t. 418. K. monandra, Dene, in Jacq. Voy. Bot. 

 142, t. 147; Meissn. I.e. 



ALPINE WESTEEN HIMALAYA; in marshy places from Kashmir to Kumaon, 

 alt. 12,000 ft. WESTEEN TIBET, alt. 11-14,000 ft. DISTRIB. Arctic and subarctic 

 regions and Altai Mts. 



Stems very slender, succulent, forming tufts 1-6 in. high with matted roots. 

 Leaves $- in., petioled, obtuse. Flowers 2-sexual or female. Perianth-lobes equal 

 or unequal. Stamen usually solitary (rarely 2) in the Indian plant. Nut rather 

 longer than the perianth. Maximovicz (Mel. Biol. xi. 309) doubts the validity of 

 K&nigia as a genus. 



Sect. II. ELEUTHEEOSPERMA., Hook. f. Slender annuals. Leaves small, 

 broad; stipules 2-partite. Flowers in axillary and terminal clusters. 

 Perianth 5-cleft ; bracts not tubular or sheathing. Stamens 2-4. Styles 

 minute, free. Seed loose in the acutely triquetrous nut; cotyledons 

 accumbent. 



2. P. delicatulum, Jleissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 127 ; quite 

 glabrous, stem filiform, leaves sessile or subsessile in. elliptic ovate or 

 ovate-cordate acute, flowers minute in axillary clusters scarcely exceeding 



