JRumex.] cxix. POLYGON ACELE. (J. D. Hooker.) 61 



green, stem snbsimple, radical leaves petioled oblong obtuse base cordate 

 hastate or sagittate, cauline sessile, racemes- lax, whorls 6-8- fld., outer sepals 

 reflexed, valves orbicular. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 64 ; Fl. Dan. 

 t. 2534 ; Engl. Bot. t. 127. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA; from Kumaon to Kashmir, alt. 8-12,000 ft. DISTEIB. 

 N. Asia, Europe from the Caucasus westward, N. America. 



Root of slender fibres, from a short woody stock. Stem 1-2 ft., deeply grooved. 

 Leaves 2-6 in. ; petiole of lower slender ; stipules ragged. Panicle contracted ; 

 branches strict, erect, leafless. Sepals of male with scarious margins. Valves of ripe 

 female perianth broadly ovate-cordate, pink or crimson. 



9. R. vesicarius, Linn.; Boiss. FL Orient, iv. 1017; annual, 

 monoecious, glabrous, branched from the root, rather fleshy, leaves petioled 

 elliptic ovate or oblong 3-5-nerved, base cuneate rarely cordate or hastate, 

 racemes short terminal and leaf-opposed leafless, flowers pedicelled some- 

 times 2-nate and connate, valves large orbicular 2-lobed at each end very 

 membranous and reticulate without a marginal nerve. Meissn. in Wall. 

 PL As. Ear. iiL 64, and in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 70 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 209 ; 

 Campd. Rum. 129, t. 3, f. 1. 8; Wall. Cat. 1732. 



WESTEBN PANJAB; on the Salt range, and trans-Indus hills; cultivated and an 

 escape in other parts of India. DIETEIB. Affghanistan, Persia, the Levant, and 

 N. Africa. 



Pale green, 6-12 in. high, dichotomously branched. Leaves 1-3 in., obtuse or 

 acute; petiole as long as the blade. Racemes 1-1 in.; pedicels slender, jointed 

 about the middle or unjointed. Fruit \ in. diam., white or pink, valves hyaline. 



SECT. III. Acetosella, Meissn. Flowers dioecious. Styles arising 

 from the angles of the ovary. Inner sepals herbaceous, hardly enlarged in 

 fruit. Leaves hastate. 



10. R. acetosella, Linn. ; Boiss. FL Orient, iv. 1018 ; perennial, 

 stem slender simple or branched from the base, lower leaves petioled lan- 

 ceolate or hastate, uppermost sessile, racemes leafless, flowers minute, 

 pedicels jointed at the top. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 63; FL Dan. 1161; 

 Engl. Bot. t. 1674. 



EASTERN HIMALAYA; Sikkim, at Darjeeling, alt. 7-8000 ft.," Clarke; introduced ? 

 DISTEIB. Europe, N. Africa, N. Asia. Introduced elsewhere. 



Glabrous, often bright red in autumn ; rootstock creeping, much branched. Leaves 

 ^-2 in., variable in breadth and form; stipules silvery, torn. Racemes erect; male 

 fl. largest. Fruiting sepals oblong, erect, closely appressed to the small 3-gonous 

 fruit. Sheep-sorrell. 



ORDER CXX. PODOSTEIVIONACEJE. 



Aquatics, growing on stones in tropical streams, annual or perennial. 

 Stem branched with leaves, or with these confluent into amorphous fronds. 

 Inflorescence vai'ious, often of a 1- or many-flowered scape, naked or arising 

 from a tubular sheath. Flowers 1-sexual, rarely dioecious, usually enclosed 

 in a spathe. Perianth 0, or membranous, lobed or partite or of a few 

 scales. Stamens definite or not, free or connate, hypogynous or perigynous, 

 filaments flat ; anthers 2-lobed. Ovary free, sessile or stalked, smooth or 

 ribbed, 1-3-celled ; styles 2-3, or one and columnar, stigma one capitate, or 

 2-3, simple toothed or laciniate; ovules many, anatropons, axile or 

 parietal. Capsule 1-3-celled ; septicidal or septifragal, valves 2-3. Seeds 



