POLYGONUM.] POLYGON ACE &.~} 29 



Seed erect, testa membranous, albumen floury, sometimes rumi- 

 nate. Species about 600, chiefly in temperate regions. 



Perianth 4-5 (rarely 3)-cleft ; stigmas capitellate ; 

 fruit a compressed or 3-gonous nutlet . .1. POLYGONUM. 



Perianth 6-cleft, the 3 inner segments much en- 

 larged in fruit ; stigmas fimbriate ; fruit a small 

 3-quetrous nutlet . . . . . .2. RUMEX. 



1. POLYGONUM, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. v, 23. 



Herbs or shrubs, rarely climbing. Leaves alternate, entire, rarely 

 toothed lobed ; stipules tubular, membranous. Flowers 2-sexual, . 

 small or minute, axillary or terminal, clustered, the clusters sessile 

 or in spiciform capitate or panicled racemes ; pedicels short, . 

 usually jointed under the perianth, bracts and bracteoles membran- 

 ous, ochreate. Perianth green or coloured, 4-5 (rarely 3)-cleft, the 

 2 outer lobes usually smallest. Stamens 5-8 (rarely 1-4), perigyn- 

 ous ; filaments often dilated at the base or alternate with the lobes 

 of an annular or glandular disk. Ovary compressed or 3-gonous ; 

 styles 2 or 3, free or slightly connate, stigmas usually capitellate. 

 Fruit a compressed or 3-gonous nutlet, covered or partially so by 

 the persistent perianth ; pericarp usually hard and often shining. 

 Seed with the embryo lateral or excentric, radicle long, cotyledons 

 small. Species about 150, throughout the world, but chiefly in 

 temperate regions. 



Of the 79 species now known to occur within the area of British India, 

 45 are restricted to the Himalayan and the North -West Frontier" 

 regions ; and of the remaining 34 species, fourteen are here included 

 as inhabiting the Upper Gangetic Plain. The very useful " Census 

 of the Indian Polygonums " prepared by Major Gage in 1903 as a 

 contribution to Vol. II of the " Records of the Botanical Survey of 

 India " has been freely made use of by the present writer. 



Inflorescence in axillary clusters. Annual or 

 perennial herbs with small leaves and hyaline 

 stipules . . . . . . 1. P. pie bejum and vars. . 



