HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Seaside Knotweed 



Polygonum maritimum. — Family, Buckwheat. Color, greenish 

 white or pinkish. Leaves, small, thickish, narrowly oblong, 

 jointed to the sheathing stipules, their margins often turned back. 

 Low and smooth plants, with nearly sessile small flowers, i to 

 3 clustered in the axils, without true corolla, but with a 5 or 

 6-parted, petal-like calyx. Stamens, 8. Style, 1. Achene, tri- 

 angular, smooth, shining. Flower pedicels slender, jointed, and 

 stem deeply lined. July to September. 



The sheaths, ocrece, in this Family are large, silvery, be- 

 coming brown at base, torn or fringed on their edges. From 

 Maine to Florida, in sand, on the shore. (See Pink Group, 



P. 251.) 



Water Smartweed 

 P. acre. — Tall, erect perennials, with smooth stems. Flowers, 

 white or sometimes pale pink, in stiff, upright spikes. Stamens, 

 8. From the base of the stem which rests upon the ground, root- 

 lets spring. 



Wet ground, as banks of rivers and brooks. Massa- 

 chusetts, along the coast, southward, also westward. (See 

 Pink Group, p. 251.) 



Halberd-leaved Tear-thumb 



P. arifolium. — Color, pale pink or white. Leaves, tapering, hal- 

 berd-shaped, long, pointed, stalked. Petals, none. Calyx, 5-parted, 

 green, with pink edges. Stamens, 8. Styles, 3. Flowers, few, in 

 loose racemes. Summer and early fall. 



Like a cat's fur, this plant must be stroked the right way — 

 that is, downward. The stem is then as soft as satin. But 

 run your finger upward, a thousand vicious little prickles 

 stand up and scratch you. It is then a tear-thumb. By 

 means of these prickles the plant climbs over every other 

 herb and shrub which chances to be its neighbor. 

 Arrow-leaved Tear-thumb 



P. sagittktum has short - stalked, arrow - shaped leaves. The 

 flowers — white, in little knots or buttons — are on the ends of the 

 branches. The prickles on this species are rather more savage 

 than in the other. Both are common in moist, low grounds. 



(See illustration, p. 59.) 



Coast Jointweed 

 Polygonella arUculata. — Family, Buckwheat. Color, light rose, 

 almost white. Leaves, jointed at base, sheathing the stem, very 

 narrow, alternate. September. 



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