36 cxix. POLYGOXACE.E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Polygonum, 



or ascending, leaves subsessile elliptic-oblong or lanceolate eglandular, 

 stipules usually hirsute and ciliate, racemes oblong dense-fid.,' bracts ciliate, 

 pedicels glabrous, perianth reel eglandular nerves slender, stamens usually 

 '6. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 117 ; Reicltl. Ic. Crit. v. 55, t. 491 ; JSngl. 

 Bot. t. 756. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; Kashmir, Falconer, &c. WESTEEN TIBET, alt. 9-14,000 ft., 

 Thomson, &c. DISTEIB. N. and W. Asia, Europe, Africa, N. America. 



Under P. lapathifolium I have' alluded to the difficulty of distinguishing this 

 plant from its var. nodosa, in India at any rate. I must leave a further study of the 

 forms of both to Indian botanists, with living specimens to work upon. 



29. P. minus, Suds. ; Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. Ill ; slender, 

 erect or ascending, glabrous, leaves sessile linear- or oblong-lanceolate sub- 

 acute, stipules sparsely strigose truncate ciliate cilia much shorter than the 

 tube, racemes erect filiform, bracts close rarely interrupted glabrous ciliate, 

 perianth eglandular, nut polished. Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 1029 ; Miquel Fl. 

 Ind. '&at. i. 1002. P. Posumbu, Wall. Cat. 1722 (not of 'Ham.}. P. tenellum, 

 Blume Bijd. 530. P. hypostictum, Miguel in Herb. Ho/ten., No. 971. P. 

 Banca, Herb. Ham. P. strictum, Allioni ; Wight Ic. t. 1800. 



Throughout the hotter parts of India, from ASSAM and CHITTAGONQ to KASH- 

 MIB, and southward to TEAVANCOBE, ascends the Himalaya to 6000 ft. CEYLON, 

 ascending to 4000 ft. DISTEIB. Europe, Temperate and Tropical Asia. 



Stem sometimes creeping, 6-10 in. high or lon, much branched or simple. 

 Leaves usually under 2 in., glabrous or puberulous beneath, or minutely strigose on 

 the midrib beneath ; stipules | in., with stiff closely appressed bristles. Racemes 

 ^-1 in., erect ; flowers minute. Nut orbicular. The nuts are rather smaller thau 

 in European specimens, but I find no other difference. Wight describes the Nilghiri 

 plant as 2-3-gynous and 5-6-androus. Small states cf P. serrulatwn are with 

 difficulty distinguished from this. 



30. P. assamicum, Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. Ill ; diffusely 

 branched and creeping, and ascending, branches glabrous, leaves dark green 

 when dry petioled elliptic-ovate or -lanceolate subacute or acuminate 

 glabrous or with the nerves beneath setulose and margins ciliate, stipules 

 strigose cilia as long as the tube, racemes 1-1 J in. very slender and on very 

 slender pedicels, bracts interrupted glabrous truncate ciliate, perianth 

 eglandular, stamens 5 or 6. 



ASSAM, TJ'allicfi, Masters; CACHAE, J. D. H. fr T. I 7 . DISTEIB. Burma, 

 Griffith. 



The prostrate habit, dark-green petioled broader leaves, longer cilia of the 

 stipules and more slender interrupted racemes, at once distinguish this remarkable 

 species, which has the colour of P. tinctorium when dry. The Burmese specimen is 

 very much stouter than the Assam and Cachar ones, and has leaves 4 by 1\ in. The 

 nut is like that of P. minus. 



ff Styles 3, rarely 2. Nut 3-gonous, rarely biconvex. 



31. P. viscosum, Ham. in Don Prodr. 71 ; annual, stem ascending 

 and branches hirsute with spreading bristly hairs and glands, leaves shortly 

 petioled lanceolate acute or acuminate strigose, stipules short hirsute, 

 racemes 1-1 in. erect, bracts close strigose and ciliate, perianth eglandular. 

 Meissn. Monog. Polyg. 73; in Wall. PL As. Ear. iii. 55, and in DC. Prodr. 

 xiv. 1. 102 ; Wall. Cat. 1713. P. strigosum & hirsmtum, Herb. Ham. 



NEPAL, Hamilton-, KHASIA MTS., SILHET and CACHAE, De Silva, Grffitk', &c. 

 Stem 1-3 ft., stout or slender, hollow, hairs flexuous, glandular or not. Leaves 

 2-7 in., glandular or not beneath, usually drying brown, stipules -J in. Racemes 



