POLYGONUM.] POLYGON ACE &. 37 



Peduncles quite glabrous. Racemes erect, slender, weak, 2-4 in. long ; 

 bracts crowded, glabrous, margins sparingly and shortly ciliate. 

 Perianth white, eglandular. Stamens 5-8. Styles 3-cleft. Nutlets 

 trigonous. 



Oommon within the area usually in wet places. DISTRIB. : Hotter parts 

 of India from Assam and Bengal to the N. W. Frontier, and from the 

 Cent. Prov. to S. India and Ceylon ; also in Burma extending to the 

 Malay Peninsula, China, Japan", Trop. Africa and Australia. This 

 species differs from P. serrulalum by the acute base of the leaves and 

 by the much longer bristles of the stipules ; the leaves also turn 

 brown when drying. Watt mentions that in China and Japan this 

 plant yields a blue dye similar to that of indigo. 



9. P. serrulatum, Lagasc. Gen. and Sp. PL 14 ; F. B. I. v, 38 ; 

 Prain Beng. PI. 887 ; Gage I c. 399 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 515. P. 

 flaccidum, Eoxb. FL Ind. ii, 291 (not of Meissn. or Boiss}. Vern. 

 Pdnimirch. 



An annual. Stems prostrate and rooting below ; branches 2-4 ft. high, 

 glabrous, often reddish. Leaves subsessile, drying green, 2-5 in. long, 

 linear or elliptic -oblong, acute or acuminate, glabrous or sparsely 

 hairy on upper surface and midrib ; base rounded or cordate ; stipules 

 strigose ; mouth truncate, with bristles on the margin nearly as long 

 as the tube. Racemes panicled, slender, erect, J-2 in. long ; bracts 

 glabrous, strongly and often squarrosely ciliate. Perianth white, 

 T \5 in. long, eglandular. Stamens 5-8. Styles 3, connate below. 

 Nutlets trigonous, T ^ in. long, polished. 



Common within the area in swamps and by river- banks. DISTRIB. : 

 From Assam and Bengal to the Indus, ascending to 7,000 ft. on the 

 W. Himalaya ; also in Central and S. India and in Ceylon ; extending 

 to Burma, China, the Malay Pen., W. Asia, S. Eur., Africa, America 

 and Australia. 



10. P. Hydropiper, Linn. Sp. PL 361 ; Eoyle III. 317 ; F. B. I. 

 v, 39 ; Watt E. D. ; Collett FL Siml. 423 ; Prain Beng. PL 887 ; 

 Gage, 1. c. 401. Water-pepper. 



A rather robust glabrous annual. Stems much-branched, minutelj 

 glandular, 12-18 in. high, swollen at the joints, prostrate and rooting 

 at the lower nodes. Leaves shortly stalked, rarely more than 3 in. 

 long, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, variable in width and in the 

 length of the apical portion, usually covered with impressed glands 

 glabrous c;r with the midrib scabrid beneath ; stipules glabrous or 



