34 cxix. POLYGONACE^. (J. D. Hooker.) [Polygonum. 



filiform. Sal. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xviii. 98. P. Meissneri, Wall. Cat. 

 1693. 



TEMPEBATE HIMALAYA ; from Dalhonsie to Bhotan, alt. 8-11,000 ft. 



Rootstock as thick as a goose-quill; branches 6-10 in., internodes often 1-1J in., 

 with short ascending leafy branches. Leaves l-2 in., margins recurved ; stipules 

 1 in. Racemes 1-lJ in., few-fld.; bracts acuminate ; flowers red. Perianth in. 

 long. Stamens 8. Nut ellipsoidly rhombic, angles very obtuse. 



Sect. VII. PEUSICARIA, Meissn. Erect or decumbent annual or perennial 

 herbs. Leaves usually narrow ; stipules tubular, often ciliate. Flowers in 

 spiciform racemes, often glandular ; bracts more or less tubular, usually 

 truncate, often ciliate. Perianth 4-5-partite, not enlarged in fruit. 

 Stamens 4-8, often alternating with glands. Styles 2-3, free or connate 

 below, stigmas usually capitate. Nut trigonous or biconvex, cotyledons 

 accumbent. 



* Styles 2, rarely 3; nut biconvex. (See also P. Hydropiper.) 



24.' P. glabrum, Willd. Sp. PL ii. 447 ; glabrous, leaves 4-8 in. 

 petioled lanceolate or linear -lanceolate finely acuminate glandular or not, 

 stipules membranous eciliate glabrous, racemes slender panicled, peduncles 

 usually quite glabrous, bracts rarely ciliolate. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 

 1. 115, and in Mart. Fl. Bras. v. 1, t. 14; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 287 ; Sab. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xviii. 102 ; Wight Ic. t. 1799 ; Wall. Cat. ] 711 ; Grah. 

 Cat. Bomb. PI. 172 ; Dalz. $ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 214. P. Poiretii, Meissn. in 

 Wall. Cat. 1712, &c. P. Persicaria, Wall. Cat. VlW.Rlieede Hort. Mai. 

 xii. t. 77. 



In ditches, &c., from ASSAM, SILHET and BENGAL westward to the INDUS and 

 SCINDE, and southward to BUEMA, ascending the HIMALAYA to 6400 ft. in GAEWHAL. 

 CEYLON, common. DISTEIB. Tropical Asia, Africa and America. 



Stem 2-4 ft., sometimes as thick as the finger, rarely diffusely branched, often red. 

 Leaves usually dark brown and shining when dry ; stipules rarely with a few short 

 cilia. Racemes 2-4 in., very slender; bracts truncate, tip oblong or rounded, few-fld. 

 Perianth very variable in size, white or rosy. Stamens 6-8. Nut orbicular, biconvex, 

 black, shining. It is difficult to separate this from smooth forms of P. Persicaria, of 

 which it is the tropical representative ; it is, however, much larger, less branched, 

 with more attenuate leaves brown when dry, and normally eciliate bracts and stipules. 

 Meissner doubtfully cites under his var. obscurum (which is the common state of the 

 plant in India) Koxburgh's P. tenellum, on the faith of a note of Wallich's in Herb. 

 DC. ; but the published tenellum of Roxburgh has filiform racemes and trigonous nuts, 

 and is what I suppose to be P.flaccidum. Boissier points out (under P. senegalense] 

 that the Affghan habitat attributed to this by Meissner is a mistake for Loodiana. 

 Var. glandulosissima, Meissn. in Wall. PI. As. Rar. iii. 57, and in DC. 1. c., is the 

 glandular-leaved state of the plant, and is the P. fluviatile, Herb. Ham. and Wall. 

 Cat. 1711 E ; the nut is trigonous in Hamilton's specimen. 



Var. scabrinervis ; peduncles often glandular above, leaves glandular, midrib beneath 

 scabrid. P. scabrinerve, Royle mss.', Meissn. I. c. 121, in part ; Sab. 1. c. 101. P. quadri- 

 fidum, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 1711 F. N.W. India, Royle; Soane River, J. D. H.\ 

 Bengal; Burma; Ceylon. Hamilton's specimens have a deceased inflorescence. 



Var. ? macrantha ; leaves densely gland-dotted, midrib beneath scabrid, racemes 

 very stout, bracts oblong, flowers nearly in. diam. rose-cold., styles 2 or 3. Silhet 

 station, Clarke. The specimens are very indifferent, but I think referable to P. gla- 

 brum. It must be a handsome plant. 



25. P. amphibium, Linn. Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 1028 ; perennial, 

 leaves usually floating oblong or lanceolate, stipules truncate ciliate or not, 

 racemes solitary dense-fid., peduncles hairy, bracts eciliate, perianth 



