108 KNOT GRASS. 



Swan River colony, and is described as being 

 there, as with us, a pasture w^hich is very 

 agreeable to the animals feeding on it. It 

 received its English name from the knottiness 

 of its stems, and hke many other plants which 

 are eaten by cattle, it is called grass, though 

 having no affinity with the true grasses. All 

 domestic quadrupeds are said to eat it, and it 

 is devoured with great avidity by sw^ine. The 

 seeds, though much smaller than those of the 

 Buckwheat, have been used like them for crum- 

 pets, or ground for bread corn. Thunberg 

 says, that in Japan a bhie dye is procured 

 from it. 



We have nine wild species of this genus ; 

 almost all are very common plants, and several 

 raise their pink spikes of flowers on moist lands 

 and on the borders of streams. The root of 

 the Common Bistort or Snakeweed, {Poh/gonum 

 bistorta,) Avhose flesh-coloured flowers grow on 

 marshy lands, is a powerful and vahiable astrin- 

 gent. The large climbing plant, known in 

 VanDiemen's Land as the jMacquarie Harbour 

 Vine, is a species of Polygonum, and its trian- 

 gular seeds are used for puddings. 



