Polygonnm. POLYGON ACE. E. ]_]_ 



stamens 8 : styles as long as the ovary : akene smooth and shining, 2 lines long or 

 more. Linnsea, iii. 51 ; Meisner, DC. Prodr. xiv. 89. 



On the sea-coast in sandy soil, from San Francisco to Puget Sound, often in large tufts. 

 Spring and summer. 



2. P. Shastense, Brewer. Prostrate or ascending, branching, the woody 

 tranches half a foot long or less, nearly naked below : sheaths with an herbaceous 

 base, a line long and equalling the joint, the 2-lobed and scarious summit scarcely 

 lacerate and usually deciduous by a regular transverse division : leaves oblanceo- 

 late, 4 to 6 lines long, acute, often folded, margin not revolute : flowers 1 to '6 in 

 each of the lower axils of the leafy branches, rose-colored with a darker midvein, or 

 nearly white, 1 to 2^ lines long, attenuate to a slightly exserted naked pedicel; 

 sepals rourid-obovate : stamens 8 : styles much shorter than the ovary, persistent : 

 akene smooth and shining, 2 J lines long. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 400 ; 

 Watson, Am. Naturalist, vii. 664. 



In the Sierra Nevada, at 8,000 to 10,000 feet altitude, from Silver Mountain to Mt. Shasta, 

 Brewer, Torrey, Lcmmou. August and September. 



3. P. Bolanderi, Brewer. Stems numerous, erect from a woody base, 6 to 15 

 inches high, slender, simple with short very leafy erect branchlets towards the top : 

 sheaths with an herbaceous base (a line long or less, many times shorter than the 

 node), scarious and finely lacerate above, persistent : leaves narrowly linear to sub- 

 ulate, acute or cuspidate, 2 or 3 lines long, not revolute : flowers solitary in the 

 axils on the branchlets, involucrate with a sheath-like scarious bract on the joint of 

 the short pedicel, light rose-color, 1| lines long; sepals oblong-ovate, slightly spread- 

 ing : stamens 8 or 9 : styles half as long as the ovary. Gray, 1. c. ; Watson, 1. c. 



On dry rocky hillsides east of Napa Valley (Brewer, Bolander) and in the "Valley of the Sac- 

 ramento, " Pickering. Remarkable for the floral sheaths. 



* * Anmials, with striate stems : flowers in the axils of leaves or in loose vir- 

 gate spikes ; sepals herbaceous or colored only on the margin, close-oppressed 

 to the akene. 



t Branches leafy to the summit : sheaths short and mostly scarious, at length 



lacerate. 



4. P. erectum, Linn. Rather stout, erect or ascending, branching from the 

 base, a foot or two high or more, glabrous, usually tinged with yellow, the branches 

 very leafy throughout : leaves oblong or oval, ^ to 2^ inches long, obtuse or acut- 

 ish : flowers mostly 1 ^ lines long, usually somewhat drooping upon the more or less 

 exserted pedicel, often yellowish : sepals and stamens 5, rarely 6 : akene very 

 broadly ovate to lanceolate, 1 or 2 lines long, dull and granular to nearly smooth 

 and shining. Watson, 1. c. 



A veiy common eastern species, collected in Nevada ( Watson) and Oregon, and doubtless to be 

 found in California, at least as an introduced weed. 



5. P. aviculare, Linn. A similar species, mostly prostrate with slender elon- 

 gated branches, bluish-green : leaves narrower, oblong to lanceolate, acute or acut- 

 ish : flowers smaller, usually less than a line long, tinged with white or rose-color, 

 on included pedicels : akene broadly ovate, a line long or less, dull and minutely 

 granular. 



A European species very widely naturalized, growing about yards and roadsides ; apparently 

 not yet common in California. 



6. P. minimum, Watson. Yery low and slender, ascending, rarely 6 inches 

 high, usually more or less scabrous-puberulent : stems nearly terete, reddish : leaves 

 ovate to oblong, sometimes all narrowly lanceolate, half an inch long or less, acute 

 or apiculate : flowers in all the axils, usually small, a line long or less, erect on 



