52 cxix. POLYGON ACEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Polygonum. 



different from those of the other species of the section, and like that of Fagopyrum 

 cymosum ; branches pubescent or villous, short or long and flowering towards the 

 extremity only ; flowers pale pink or red, shortly pedicelled ; bracts small, usually 

 ovate,acute. Perianth - in, long, truly campanulate ; lobes oblong, obtuse, subequal. 

 Stamens 8, filaments very long. Nut pale, tip exserted. A very distinct plant, which 

 1 have attempted to identify with the obscure P. Hagei, Royle. This, however, is 

 described as having scabridly hairy branches and peduncles, very short petioles, and 

 broad leafless panicles, and as a native of Nagkunda, whence various collectors have 

 sent P. polystachyum, but none the P. campanulatum, the form of whose perianth 

 could scarcely have escaped notice. 



Var. membranifolia ; leaves large broad membranous, bright green, pubescence 

 inconspicuous, cymes much smaller than the leaves. Sikkim, in woods, alt. 

 6-10,000 ft. 



Var. longipes ; leaves elliptic ovate sparingly pubescent, branches of cymes dicho- 

 tomous long naked leafy at the base. 



Var. fulrida; leaves clothed beneath with dense matted fulvous tomentum. P. 

 crispatum, Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xv. 116 (where it is taken for Roxburgh's 

 Coccoloba crispata, which is P. chinense). 



64. P. tortuosum, Don Prodr. 71 ; a low shrub, glabrous or finely 

 pubescent, much, dichotomously branched, leaves sessile coriaceous elliptic 

 obovate or orbicular obtuse or acute, panicles short terminal dense-fld., nut 

 trigonous included in the campanulate perianth. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 

 xiv. 1. 138. P. tataricum, Wall. mss. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; GarwLal, at Gangotri, Duthie ; Kunawur and Lahul, alt. 

 9-13,000 ft., R. Inglis, &c. WESTERN TIBET, alt. 15,500 ft., Strachey Sf Winter- 

 bottom ; Ladak, alt. 16,500 ft., Stewart. 



Eoot woody ; branches 8-16 in., divaricate, geniculate, as thick as a goose- ill 

 below, smooth, shining, red-brown. Leaves 1-2 in., pale green, crimson in autu n; 

 nerves very slender; stipules short, truncate. Panicles -1 in. long, very dense-fld.; 

 peduncles and very short pedicels pubescent. Perianth in. long; lobes oblong, 

 erect. Stamens 8, short. Nut pale, ovate. A remarkable species. Meissner's var. 

 tibetanum is the common state of the plant, closely allied to and possibly a state of 

 P. sericeum, Pall. Don's habitat of Nepal is no doubt an error, as Wallich s mss. name 

 of P. tataricum, cited by Don himself, shows. 



Var. spicata ; flowers in solitary simple terminal and axillary spikes longer than 

 the leaves. Dras, alt. 8-9000 ft., 'Thomson. 



**** 



Small herbaceous species with capitate or racemose panicles. 



65. P. sibiricum, Laxm. in Nov. Act. Acad. Petrop. xviii. (1773) 531, 

 t. 7, f . 2 ; dwarf, quite glabrous, coriaceously fleshy, branches many from 

 the long perpendicular root erect or decumbent, leaves narrowly linear 

 obtuse 2-auricled towards the base, flowers in capitate terminal panicles 

 shorter than the leaves, nut enclosed in the perianth. Meissn. in DC. 

 Prodr. xiv. 1. 139 ; Ledel. Fl. Ross. iii. 527. P. hastatum, Murr. Comm. 

 Goett. v. (1774) 37, t. 6; Ledeb. Fl. Alt. ii. 80, t. 361. P. crassifolium, 

 Murr. in Linn. Syst. Veg. ed. 14, 378. P. rumicifolium, Pall, .(non Ro^le). 

 Polyg. n. 37, Herb. 2nd, Or. H.f. $ T. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; Kangra, alt. 11-12,000 ft., Edgeworth. WESTERN 

 TIBET, common; alt. 12-15,000 ft., Strachey $ Winterbottom (Polyg. n. 48;, 

 Thomson, &c. 



Eoot several inches long, simple. Stems or branches 1-6 in., stout (much longer 

 in Siberian specimens). Leaves 1-3 by T ' 5 -| in., flat, opaque, base cuneate being 

 narrowed below the acute or obtuse equal or unequal auricles into a thick petiole ; 

 midrib broad, nerves invisible; stipules short, membranous. Heads of flowers 

 $ t -\ in. diam. (effuse in Siberian specimens) ; bracts minute ; pedicels short or long. 

 Perianth ^ in. long, subglobose, pink, segments broadly oblong. Stamens 5-8, 



