12 POLYGONACE^E. Polygonum. 



slender exserted pedicels, often tinged with rose-color : stamens 5 to 8 : akene 

 smooth and shining, exceeding the sepals. Bot. King Exp. 315. P. Torreyi, 

 Watson, Am. Naturalist, vii. 664. 



In the mountains of Northern California and Oregon, and eastward in the Wahsatch and 

 Uintas (Watson) ; in the Sierra Nevada from the Yosemite Valley northward (Torrcy, Lemmori) ; 

 on Mount St. Helena and Scott Mountains, Greene. 



H *- Branches slender and virgate, angled, terminating in more or less open 

 spikes, the narrow leaves diminishing upward and becoming bract-like. 



7. P. ramosissimum, Michx. Erect or ascending, usually 2 to 4 feet high, 

 often branching only above, glabrous, the whole plant yellowish : sheaths loose and 

 scarious, becoming lacerate to the base : leaves lanceolate to linear, 1 to 2^ inches 

 long, acute, attenuate to a slender base : flowers and fruit as in P. erectum, 1 or 2 

 lines long, erect, the sepals more frequently 6, stamens 3 to 6, and akene usually 

 smooth and shining. Meisner, DC. Prodr. xiv. 97. 



In the lower Sierra Nevada, ranging northward to the Columbia and across the continent, more 

 common east of the mountains. 



8. P. tenue, Michx. Erect and slender, ^ to 1^ feet high, glabrous and some- 

 what glaucous, sometimes slightly scabrous at the nodes : sheaths with a close some- 

 what herbaceous base, sparingly scarious and lacerate above : leaves linear to Jan- 

 ceolate, an inch or two long, acute at each end and often cuspidate, obscurely 

 3-nerved, usually much reduced above : flowers often solitary and usually distant, 

 soon reflexed, 1 to 1^ or 2 lines long, the sepals margined with white or rose-color: 

 stamens 8 : styles a third as long as the ovary : akene ovate, black and shining. 

 Meisner, L c. 100 ; Watson, 1. c. 



In the Cuyamaca Mountains (Palmer) and Sierra County (Lemmori) ; very common eastward, 

 from British Columbia to .Arizona, and across the continent. A broader leaved form occurs, often 

 low (var. latifolium, Engelm.), and also a low slender variety with minute flowers and fruit (var. 

 microspermum, Engelm.). 



9. P. coarctatum, Dougl. Resembling the last in habit, but scabrous-puberu- 

 lent and the stems often brown : sheaths with a short mostly scarious base and a 

 more conspicuous lacerate summit : leaves linear, 1 -nerved, acute : flowers more 

 crowded and usually erect, the perianth more colored, rose-color or white : styles as 

 long as the ovary. Meisner, 1. c. 101 ; Watson, 1. c. 665. 



Near Borax Lake (Torrcy) and Donner Lake (Lemmori), and northward to the British 

 boundary. 



* * * Annuals, low and slender: flowers in short dense spikes, with imbricated 

 bracts : sepals colored, appressed : leaves linear. 



10. P. imbricatum, Nutt. Stems 1 to 8 inches high, smooth or slightly sca- 

 brous at the nodes, somewhat angled, often diffusely branched : sheaths rather large, 

 2-parted or lacerate above the short scarious base : leaves a half to an inch long, 

 acute, 1 -nerved : bracts loosely imbricated, linear or oblong, acute, 2 to 4 lines long, 

 with sometimes a narrow scarious margin : flowers nearly sessile, a line long or less, 

 rose-colored or white : stamens 3 or 5 : styles a third as long as the ovary : akene 

 three fourths of a line long, minutely tuberculate-striate or smoothish. Watson, 

 1. c. 665. 



Frequent in the mountains, alpine and sub-alpine, from Donner Lake (Torreif) to the Columbia 

 River, and eastward to Colorado. It has usually been referred to P. coarctatum. 



11. P. polygaloides, Meisner, 1. c. Spikes closer, the closely imbricated bracts 

 oblong to nearly orbicular, with broad scarious margins, mostly obtuse : stamens 8 : 

 styles as long as the ovary. Watson, 1. c. 



Oregon and Central Idaho, collected by Spalding, Pickering, and Howell, probably to be found 

 in Northern California. 



