34 POLYGON ACE &. [ POLYGONUM. 



tightly embracing the stem. Racemes laxly panicled, cylindric, 3-5 

 in. long, peduncles stout, erect or drooping ; bracts crowded, 3-6- 

 flowered, strigosely tomentose and ciliate. Flowers large ; perianth 

 white red or green, 4 or 5 partite. Stamens 7-8, included. Styles 

 connate below, stigmas capitellate. Nutlets J in. long, orbicular, 

 compressed, with rounded margins and rather concave faces, black 

 and shining when ripe. 



Dehra Dun, in swamps (Falconer, Duthie) ; Sub-Himalayan tracts of 

 N. Oudh. Flowers during the rainy season. DISTRIB. : Himalaya 

 eastwards from Kashmir, ascending to 5,000 ft. ; also in Bengal, 

 Assam and Burma ; extending to Turkestan, Siam, China, Japan, 

 Java and Borneo. The plant is often cultivated, and in that condi- 

 tion it often becomes almost glabrous. 



3. P. limbatum, Meissn. in DC. Prod, xiv, 123 ; F. B. I. v, 30 ; 

 Prain Beng. PI. 886 ; Gage in Eec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 387 ; CooJce 

 Fl. Bomb, ii, 515. 



Annual. Stem simple, very stout, erect or prostrate below, pubescent 

 or glabrous. Leaves shortly petioled, 4-8 in. long, lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, tapering below, scaberulous on both surfaces ; stipules cylin- 

 dric, strigose ; mouth truncate, with a spreading or recurved scabrid 

 and ciliate herbaceous limb. Flowers in short erect panicled racemes, 

 peduncles strigose ; bracts crowded, hispid. Nutlets J in. in diam., 

 orbicular, compressed, margins rounded, faces convex. 



"Saharanpur, R/ohilkhand (T. Thomson), N. Oudh (R. Thompson), 

 Bundelkhand (Vicary), Saugor (Jerdon) ; usually in wet ground. 

 DISTBIB. : Garhwal, Bengal, W. and S. India ; extending to Egypt 

 and Trop. Africa. 



4. P. lanigerum, E. Br. Prod. 419 ; Eoyle 111. 313 ; F. B. I. 

 t>, 35 ; Prain Beng. PI. 886 ; Gage 1. c. 394. P. lanatum, Eoxb. 

 Fl. Ind. ii, 285. 



A robust annual (or perhaps sometimes perennial), 2-5 ft. high. Stem 

 stout, prostrate below and rooting at the nodes, clothed with 

 snow-white tomentum ; branches slender, deep-red within especially 

 at the nodes. Leaves shortly stalked, narrowly lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, densely white-cottony beneath ; stipules membranous, striate ; 

 mouth unequally truncate, sparsely ciliate. Racemes slender, 1-2 in. 

 long ; peduncles spreading, white-tomentose ; bracts small, crowded, 

 densely white-Woolly Perianth small, white or pink, eglandular. 

 Stamens 6. Style 2-cleft. Nutlets small, orbicular, black and shining. 



