BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 



or crescent marks near the centre. There are first to 

 last from six to eight Polygonums along the highway ere 

 the summer closes. Two of them are climbing vines and 

 bear the common name of Tear-Thumb, because of their 

 sharp bristles; others of the climbing clan are known 

 as False Buckwheats, because of their triangular seeds. 



Knotgrass, Polygonum aviculdre, is the insignificant 

 dooryard weed which seems to follow man in his wander- 

 ings and finds a home at his very door-step. Its native 

 land is unknown, but it dwells at ease in three conti- 

 nents and possesses to a marked degree the will to live. 



It trails its jointed leafy stems over the ground, 

 bearing tiny, whitish, pink-edged flowers, clustered in 

 the axils of the small, oblong, bluish green leaves. In 

 the city it flourishes between the sidewalk and the 

 curb ; here it is that in late summer flocks of sparrows 

 may be seen chuckling and chortling with delight -as 

 they extract each Uttle seed from its resting-place in 

 the axil of a leaf. This is a city crop that nature 

 raises for the sparrow in spite of all that man can do. 



CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT 



Polygonum scdndens. 



Perennial. Native. A climbing and trailing plant, with 

 halberd-shaped leaves and inconspicuous flowers. Woods 

 and wayside thickets; has also appropriated wire fences. 

 Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. August-Sep- 

 tember. 



Root. — Deep-boring, branching. 



Stem. — CHmbing, branching, three to twenty feet in 

 length, slender, pale green, faintly ridged and slightly 

 roughened on the edges. Several from one root. 



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