POLYGOXACEAE. 115 



eyliiidric, fringed v^ith long bristles falling away at maturity, racemes narrow, 

 erect or slightly drooping, loosely-floAvered, 2-8 cm. long; calyx greenish; 

 stamens 8; style 2-3-parted to the base; achene oblong, thick, lenticular or 3- 

 angled, 2.5 mm. long, smooth, shining. 



Swampy ground, Andros. along road to Morgan's Bluff : — Bermuda : temperate 

 and tropical continental America ; Cuba to Trinidad ; Jamaica. Water Smahtweed. 



3. Persicaria portoricensis (Bert.) Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 377. 1903. 



Polygonum portoricense Bert.; Small, Mem. Bot. Col. Coll. 1: 40. 1895. 

 Polygonum glabrum C. & S. Linnaea 3: 46. 1828. Not Willd. 1799. 



Perennial, more or less scurfy; stem erect, decumbent or floating, 1-1.5 m. 

 long or longer, branched, enlarged at the nodes. Leaves lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, 4-30 cm. long, acuminate at both ends, obscurely punctate, short- 

 petioled, the nerves prominent beneath; ocreae cylindric, sometimes bristly 

 when young, naked when mature, sometimes hispid; racemes narrow, panicu- 

 late, often in pairs, 2.5-13 cm. long, dense, erect; calyx white or whitish, 5- 

 parted to near the base; stamens 6-8, included; style 2-3-cleft, somewhat ex- 

 serted; achene lenticular and strongly biconvex or 3-angled, 2-3 mm. long, 

 broadly oblong, orbicular or even broader than high, black, smooth and shining, 

 or minutely granular. 



Fresh water swamps and water-holes. Great Bahama, Andros. New rrovidpnoe. 

 Great Exuma and Cat Island :— southern T'nited States to Mexico and northern 

 South America ; Cuba to Martinique ; Jamaica. Dense-flowered Persicaria. 



2. FAOOPYRUM Gaertn. Fr. & Sem. 2: 182. 1791. 



Annual or perennial, rather fleshy, usually glabrous leafy herbs, with erect 

 striate or grooved stems. Leaves alternate, petioled, hastate or deltoid, with 

 oblique, cylindric or funnelform ocreae. Flowers small, white or green, in 

 terminal or axillary, usually paniculate racemes, perfect, borne solitary or sev- 

 eral together from each ocreola, slender-pedicelled. Calyx about equally 5- 

 parted, persistent and unchanged in fruit, the segments petaloid, shorter than 

 the achene. Stamens 8 ; filaments filiform, glabrous. Ovary 1-celled, 1- 

 ovuled; style 3-parted; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-angled. Embryo central, 

 dividing the mealy endosperm into two parts; cotyledons broad. [Greek, 

 beech-wheat, from the similarity of the grain.] About 6 species, native of 

 Europe and Asia. Type species: Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn. 



1. Fagopyrum Fagopyrum (L.) Karst. Deutsch. Fl. 522. 1880-83. 



Polygonum Fagopyrum L. Sp. PI. 364. 1753. 

 Fagopyrum esculentum Moench, Meth. 290. 1794. 



Annual, glabrous except at the nodes, stem 3-9 dm. high. Leaves hastate, 

 2.5-7,5 em. long, abruptly narrowed above the middle, acuminate, the nerves on 

 the lower surface slightly scurfy; ocreae brittle and fugacious; racemes mostly 

 panicled, sometimes corymbose, many-flowered, erect or inclined to droop; pedi- 

 cels as long as the calyx; calyx-segments white or whitish; stamens imduded ; 

 style-branches deflexed in fruit; achene acute, 5 mm. long, about twice as long 

 as the calyx, its faces pinnately-striate when mature, the angles acute, not 

 crested. 



Waste grounds. New Providence : — native of eastern Europe or western Asia. 

 Widely distributed through cultivation. Buckwheat. 



