PolyyonumJ] cxix. POLYGON ACE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) 27 



WESTEEN HIMALAYA; from Kashmir to Kumaon, alt. 6-10,000 ft., Royle, &c. ; 

 Rawul Pindee, Aitchison. WESTEEN TIBET, alt. 10-12,000 ft., Thomson^. DISTKIB. 

 Widely dispersed, indigenous in Europe and N. Asia, probably a colonist elsewhere. 



The Himalayan and Tibetan specimens are intermediate in several points between 

 P. aviculare and P. Bellardi, as these are defined by Boissier ; the leaves are not 

 veined as he describes them in aviculare, nor are they acute as they should be in 

 P. Bellardi', and though the branches sometimes run out into a subspicate in- 

 florescence, this is not so slender and interrupted as in true Bellardi. Boissier gives 

 " India borealis " as a habitat for the latter plant ; but I have seen no specimens. 



9. P. tubulosum, Boiss. Diagn. Ser. i. 83, and Fl. Orient, iv. 1032 ; 

 glabrous, branches short prostrate or ascending leafy angular not grooved 

 internodes very short, leaves linear acute or obtuse margins recurved, 

 stipules hyaline subentire lacerate or fimbriate faintly 1-2-nerved, flowers 

 axillary sessile, perianth ovoid tube much longer than the small rounded 

 white or pink lobes,' nut rhomboid triquetrous smooth shining. Meissn. in 

 DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 91. P. rottboellioides, Jaul. $ Sp. III. PL Or. t. 122; 

 Meissn. I. c. 92. ? P. Olivieri, Meissn. I. c. 92, in part. 



NOETH- WESTEEN HIMALAYA; Kunawur and Lahul, alt. 6-7000 ft., Royle, 

 Thomson, Stewart. WESTEKN TIBET, alt. 10-11,000 ft., Thomson. DISTEIB. 

 Affghanistan, Persian Alps. 



A small annual, with sometimes rosy flowers, crowded leaves and hyaline stipules, 

 in. long, very different from P. aviculare in the sessile perianth cleft at the top only, 

 and in the small broad short shining nut. Meissner has cited " Kumaon, Strachey 

 and Winterbottom, No. 49," as a locality for P. Olivieri, Jaub. and Spach. I have 

 seen no specimens, and suspect some error. The calyx-lobes of P. Olivieri (which is 

 a synonym of P. potycnemoides] equal the tube. 



Var. tibetica ; branches very slender much longer, leaves usually acute or acuminate. 

 Western Tibet; Karakoram, alt, 12,000 ft., Clarke-, Lahul, Jaeschke; Chamba, 

 Mlis. 



10. P. molliaeforme, Boiss. Diagn. Ser. i. 7. 84, and Fl. Orient, iv. 



1043 ; very small and ' slender, stems short dichotomous bearing axillary 

 clusters of stipules and flowers, leaves spreading linear setaceous apiculate 

 3-5-nerved margins recurved, stipules ventricose hyaline white 1-2-nerved 

 split to the middle into several lanceolate segments, perianth sessile con- 

 cealed by the stipules cleft to below the middle, nut ovoid acute obtusely 

 3-gonous. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 91. 



WESTEEN TIBET; Nubra, alt. 14-16,000 ft., Thomson.-^- DISTEIB. Persia. 



Root almost capillary. Stems spreading, 1-2 in., filiform, rigidly flexuous, red. Leaves 

 very narrow, ~J in. long ; stipules large for the size of the plant. Flowers minute. 

 Perianth hyaline. This curious little species resembles a seedling state of P. parony- 

 cMoides, but differs in the perianth. Boissier describes the stipules as nerveless, but I 

 find 1 or 2 nerves, one always exserted, in both Persian and Tibetan specimens. 



11. P. plebejum, Br. Prodr. 420; diffusely branched, prostrate, 

 smooth or minutely scaberulous, branches terete grooved, internodes 

 usually shorter than the leaves, stipules hyaline short lacerate to the 

 middle and fimbriate nerve unilateral 'excurrent (rarely 2 or more or 0), 

 flowers 1-3-nate, pedicels or short, perianth $ in. or less cleft to near the 

 base, nut rhomboid 3-gonous smooth and shining. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 

 xiv. 1. 94. P. Dryandri, Spr. Syst. Veg. ii. 255 ; Wall. Cat. 1691 ; Meissn. 

 Polyg. Prodr. 88. P. aviculare, Don Prodr. 72. P. herniarioides, Del. Fl. 

 JEgypt. 13 ; Meissn. I. c. 94, and in Wall PL As. Ear. iii. 62. P. Eox- 

 burghii, Meissn. 1. c. ; Miguel Fl. Ind. Bat. i. 997. 



Throughout TEOPICAL INDIA; and (but rarely) ascending the HIMALAYA to 



