POLYGONUM.] POLYGON ACE JE. 35 



In ditches and wet places, chiefly in the northern portion of the area, 

 from Dehra Dun eastwards along the Sub-Himalayan tracts. Flowers 

 during the rainy season. DISTRIB. : Rajputana, and on the outer 

 Himalayan ranges from the Punjab to Sikkim, ascending to 5,000 ft. 

 in Garhwal and Kumaon ; also in Bengal, Assam and Burma ; and 

 extending to China, Java, the Philippines, Egypt, Trop. and S. Africa, 

 America and N. Australia. 



5. P. glabrum, Willd. Sp. PL ii, 447 ; Roxb. FL Ind. ii, 287 ; 

 Royle III 313 riF. B. I. v, 34 ; Watt E. D.; Collett FL Siml. 422 ; 

 Pram Beng. PL 886 ; Gage, L c. 393 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 514. 



An erect glabrous annual, 2-5 ft. high. Stems stout, simple or slightly 

 branched, procumbent below and usually tinged with red. Leaves 

 3-9 in. long, lanceolate, acuminate, tapering at the base, glabrous and 

 usually gland-dotted, lateral nerves close ; petioles J- J in. ; stipules 

 1-1J in. long, closely embracing the stems when young, veins con- 

 spicuous, mouth truncate, eciliate. Racemes erect, slender, 2-4 in. 

 long, forming a terminal panicle, peduncles usually glabrous ; bracts 

 -glabrous, J in. long, ovate, obtuse ; margins membranous, rarely 

 ciliate. Perianth J- in. long, pink or white, not glandular ; segments 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse. Stamens 6-8. Styles 2, rarely 3, connate 

 below. Nutlets \ in. in diam., sub-orbicular and biconvex, or 3-angled 

 in the 3-styled flowers. 



Abundant in all parts of the area in swamps and by streams. DISTRIB. : 

 Throughout the greater part of India in wet places, ascending to 

 6,000ft. on the Himalaya, also in Ceylon. It is found also in China, 

 Australia, Africa and America. Hooker (in F.B.I., 1. c.) notes that 

 it is difficult to separate this species from smooth forms of P. Per- 

 sicaria, of which it may be regarded as the tropical representative 

 in India. It is, however, as he says, a much larger plant, less branched 

 and with more attenuate leaves, which turn brown when drying ; 

 also in normal specimens the stipules and bracts are eciliate. The 

 pungent leaves and young shoots are cooked by the natives in certain 

 parts of India and eaten as an adjunct to other vegetables. 



6. P. lapathifolium, Linn. Sp. PL 360 ; F. B. 1. v, 35 (var. 

 laxa) ; Gage 1. c. 395 ; Prain Beng. PL 886 ; Duihie in Strachey Cat. 

 PI. Kumaon (1906) 258. P. laxum, Reichb. P. nutans, Roxb. FL 

 Ind. ii, 285. P. simlense, Eoyle ex Bab. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xviii 

 U841), 102 ; Collett FL Siml. 422 (in part). P. quadrifidum, Herb. 

 S. and W. No. 24). 



