Polygonum.] cxix. POLYGONACEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 41 



gonous or biconvex, enclosed in or adnate to the often enlarged and some- 

 times fleshy perianth-tube ; cotyledons accumbent. 



39. P. humile, Meissn. in Wall. PI. As. Ear. iii. 59, and in DC. 



Prodr. xiv. 1. 128;. small, sparsely glandular-hairy, stem filiform, leaves 

 g- in. subsessile ovate acute or rhombic-ovate, mouth of stipules very 

 oblique, heads long peduncled small, bracts very small ovate-lanceolate 

 acute, stamens 5-6, nut biconvex striate and punctate. P. perforatum, 

 Wall. Cat. 1700, in part. 



TEMPERATE and ALPINE HIMALAYA ; Kunawur, Grant', Knmaon, alt. 8500ft., 

 Stracliey & Winterlottom ; Nepal, Wallich ; Sikkim, alt. 7-11,000 ft., J. D. H., 

 Clarke. 



Annual. Stem 4-6 in., simple and erect or diffusely branched from the base. 

 Leaves very uniform, epunctate, sometimes narrowed into a short broad petiole. 

 Heads % in. diam., on long slender pedicels, without an involucral leaf; bracts 

 longer than the flowers. Perianth greenish, tube closely investing but not cohering 

 with the nut, eglandular ; lobes very short, rounded. Nut black, coarsely punctate ; 

 styles slender, connate below, stigmas capitate. 



40. P. glaciale, Hook. f. ; dwarf, flaccid, glabrous, subsucculent, 

 leaves long-petioled broadly ovate obtuse, heads small sessile or peduncled, 

 peduncle minutely glandular at the tip, bracts broadly ovate obtuse gla- 

 brous about equalling the 3-gonous nut. P. perforatum y. glaciale, Meissn. 

 in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 128. P. perforatum, Aitchison in Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 xviii. 90. 



ALPIXE and STJBALPINE HIMALAYA ; Kashmir, alt. 8400-12,000 ft., Clarice ; 

 Ktmawur and Piti, alt. 9000-11,000 ft., Thomson; Kumaon, alt. 13,000 ft., Strachey 

 Sf Winterbottom, &c. DISTEIB. Affghanistan. 



Annual, 2-4 in. high, branched from the root, branches diffuse. Leaves -f in., 

 nerves indistinct, surfaces minutely granular when dry ; petiole as long as the blade, 

 winged above only ; stipules short, cupular, simple or 2-lobed, glabrous. Heads - in. 

 diam., without an involucral leaf. Perianth hyaline j lobes snbequal, obtuse. 

 Stamens 5. Nut minute, closely invested by the periantb-tube, black, striolate and 

 punctate. The long petioles at once distinguish this from P. alatuni. 



41. P. alatum, Ham. mss.; Spreng. Syst. Veg., Cur. post. 154; tall, 

 erect or low and procumbent, glabrous or sparsely hairy, leaves large or 

 small ovate or deltoid-ovate obtuse or acute narrowed into a broadly 

 winged often amplexicaul petiole glandular or not, stipules tubular 

 obliquely truncate, peduncles glandular hispid at the tip, heads usually 

 with an involucral leaf, bracts ovate-lanceolate glabrous not ciliate, 

 perianth 1-5-fld., stamens 7-8, nut biconvex or trigonous striate and punc- 

 tate. P. punctatum, Ham. in Don Prodr. 72 ; Sab. in Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 xviii. 105. P. perforatum, Meissn. Monogr. Polyg. 83, and in Wall. PL As. 

 Ear. iii. 59, and in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 128, excl. y. glaciale; Wall. Cat. 

 1700. P. nepalense, Meissn. Monog. 84, in Wall. PI. As. Ear., and in 

 DC. II. c. ; Fresen. in Mus. SenTcenb. iii. 64; Bab. I. c. 106; Wight Ic. 

 1. 1804. 



Throughout the HIMALAYA ; abundant at 4-10,000 ft. elevation, from Sikkim to 

 Kashmir. KHASIA MTS., alt. 4-6000 ft. NILG-HIEI MTS. (a weed in gardens), 

 Wight. CAXAEA j Bababudan Hills, Heyne. CEYLON, abundant. DISTEIB. Affghan- 

 istan, Java, Japan, Abyssinia. 



Annual. Stem rarely creeping for a short distance at the base, erect and sub- 

 simple or branched from the base ; branches 6-18 in. high, slender or rather stout, 

 flaccid or stiff, erect ascending or prostrate, glabrous or sparsely grandular-hairy. 

 Leaves in the largest specimens 2-3 in. long, and the smallest J in., base sometimes 

 subcordate, suddenly contracted into the broadly-winged petiole which is often 



