g POLYGONACE^E. Rumex. 



what colored, usually becoming enlarged and reticulated (valves) in fruit, appressed 

 to the shorter 3-angled akene. Stamens 6 ; filaments very short. Styles 3 ; stig- 

 mas tufted. Embryo lateral, slender, slightly curved. Coarse perennial herbs 

 (sometimes shrubs or trees in the tropics), rarely biennial or annual, with more or 

 less acid juice ; stems leafy, with scarious obliquely truncate cylindrical naked 

 sheaths ; flowers small, fascicled or verticillate in paniculate racemes. 



A genus of 1 25 species, widely distributed around the globe, several naturalized everywhere as 

 troublesome weeds, a few rarely cultivated as pot-herbs. The roots of our species are mostly 

 thick and fusiform, with astringent and alterative qualities. The specific characters are largely 

 drawn from the fruit. 



1. Flowers perfect or polygamous ; valves enlarged, often bearing a grain-like 

 callosity on the back : leaves never hastate, pinnately manysveined, rarely 

 very acid. LAPATHUM, Meisuer ; the DOCKS. 



* Valves wholly without grains, mostly very large (3 lines long or more), entire or 

 denticulate : pedicels long, jointed near the base : glabrous perennials. 



1. R. vencsus, Pursh. Stems erect, a foot high or less, from running root- 

 stocks, stout and leafy, with conspicuous dilated stipules : leaves on short but 

 rather slender petioles, ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 3 to 6 inches long, acute or 

 acuminate, only the lowest obtuse or somewhat cordate at base, the margin rarely 

 undulate : panicle nearly sessile, short, dense in fruit : fruiting pedicels 4 to 9 lines 

 long : valves entire, cordate-orbicular with a deep sinus, 9 to 12 lines in diameter, 

 acutish or emarginate, bright rose-color : akene 3 lines long. Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. 

 ii. 130, t. 174. 



From British Columbia to the Saskatchewan and southward to Nevada and Colorado ; near 

 Carson City, Nevada, Anderson. In dry sandy valleys. 



2. R. hymenosepalus, Torrey. Similar but taller and still stouter : leaves 

 attenuate to a short very thick and fleshy petiole, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, a 

 foot long or less, acute, undulate : pedicels 3 to 6 lines long : fruit smaller, 4 to 6 

 lines in diameter: akene 2 lines long. Bot. Mex. Bound. 177. 



In dry sandy places, near Nipoma (Brewer) and Suez Eiver (Bolander&Kellogg), and also east- 

 ward in S. Utah and New Mexico. The height of the stem and the character of the root have 

 not been noted. Dr. Parry states that the young shoots are used in Utah as a substitute for the 

 garden rhubarb. 



3. R. OCCidentalis, Watson. Tall and rather slender, often 3 to 6 feet high : 

 leaves oblong-lanceolate, the lowest sometimes ovate, usually narrowing gradually 

 upward from the truncate somewhat cordate base, not decurrent on the slender often 

 elongated petiole, acute, often a foot long or more, scarcely undulate : panicle nar- 

 row, elongated, nearly leafless : pedicels filiform, 3 to 6 lines long, obscurely jointed 

 near the base : valves broadly cordate, with a very shallow sinus, becoming about 3 

 lines in diameter, often denticulate near the base: akene 1| lines long. Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xii. 253. R. longifolius, of authors, not of DC. 



From Alaska to the Sacramento, and eastward to New Mexico, Colorado, the Saskatchewan and 

 Labrador; in wet places and along streams. It has been rarely collected in California, being 

 reported only from McCumber's in Shasta County, but is probably frequent in the northern part 

 of the State. Much resembling R. longifolius of the Old World. 



* * Valves smaller, one or more of them grain-bearing. 

 *- Valves entire or only denticulate : glabrous perennials. 



4. R. salicifolius, Weinmann. Slender, often low, 1 to 5 feet high, usually 

 branching and decumbent at base : leaves narrowly or linear-lanceolate, or the low- 

 est oblong, 3 to 6 inches long or more, acuminate, attenuate into a short petiole, 



