POLYGONACEJE. (BUCK'R'HF.AT FAMILY) 871 



opposite sessile leaves, and spiked scarious-bracted flowers. (Named for J. A. 

 FrOlich, a German botanist of the last century.) 



1. F. Floriditna, Moquin. Stem leafless above (1- 2 high) ; leaves 

 lanceolate, silky-downy beneath ; spikelets crowded into an interrupted spike ; 

 calyx very woolly. Illinois, in Mason and Cass Counties, Mead. Aug. 

 Perhaps of recent and casual introduction : for elsewhere it is only found much 

 farther south. 



GOMPHRENA GLOB&SA, L., is the common GLOBE AMARANTH of the gar- 

 dens. 



ORDER 92. POLYGONACE^E. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 



Herbs, u'ith alternate leaves, furnished with stipules in the form of sheaths 

 (ochreae) above the swollen joints of the stem ; the flowers mostly perfect, 

 with a more or less persistent calyx, a 1-ceUed ovary bearing 2-3 styles or 

 stigmas, and a single erect orthotropous seed. Embryo curved or straight- 

 ish, on the outside of the albumen, or rarely in its centre; the radicle 

 pointing from the hilum and to the apex of the dry seed-like fruit. Sta- 

 mens 4-12, inserted on the base of the 3-6-cleft calyx. Leaves usually 

 entire. (The watery juice often acrid, sometimes agreeably acid, as in 

 Sorrel ; the roots, as in Rhubarb, sometimes cathartic.) Our few genera 

 all belong to the POLYGONE^E PROPER. 



Synopsis* 



# Sepal* mostly 5, comewhat equal, all erect In frulfc. 



1. POLYOONUM. Embryo narrow, curved around one side of the albumen : cotyledotu 



Blender or flat. 



2. FAGOPYKUM Embryo in the albumen, Its very broad cotyledons twisted-plaited. 



* * Sepals 4-6, the outer row reflexed, the inner erect and enlarging. 

 8. OXYRIA. Sepals 4. Stigmas 2 Fruit 2-wlnged, samara-like. 



4. RUMEX. Sepals 6. Styles 8. Fruit 8-angled, wingless, enclosed in the enlarged Innar 

 epal* 



1. POL^OONUIfl, L. KNOTWEED. 



Calyx mostly 5-partcd ; the divisions often petal-like, all erect in fruit, wither- 

 ing or persistent and surrounding the lenticular or 3-angular aehenium. Sta- 

 mens 4-9. Styles or stigmas 2-3. Embryo placed in a groove on the outside 

 of the albumen and curved half-way around it ; the radicle and usually the coty- 

 ledons slender. Pedicels jointed. (Name composed of TroXu, many, and yow, 

 knee, from the numerous joints.) 



i 1. BIST6RTA, To urn. Calyx petal-like, deeply 5-cleJl : stamens 8 or 9 : stylet 

 3. slender: aehenium 3-sided: stems low and simple from a woody creeping root- 

 stock : Jlowers in a spike-like raceme. 



1. P. viviparum, L. (ALPINE BISTORT.) Smooth, d^arf (4' -8' 

 high) 3 tearing a linear spike of flesh-colored flowers (or often littJ red bulblet" 



