374 POl YGONACE.E. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 



sessile 'greenish- white, sometimes tinged with purple;; sheaths much shorter 

 than Ik.* lower leaves j stamens 5 or 8 ; fruit enclosed in the calyx, dull, minutely 

 twrinkled-striate or granular under a lens, (i) Waste places and gravelly banks , 

 everywhere the commonest weed. (Eu.) 



Var. erect UNI, Roth. Stems upright or ascending ; leaves broader (ob- 

 long or oval) and larger; stamens commonly 5. (P. erectum, L.) In richer 

 soil or more shaded places ; common. 



Var. littorale, Link. Prostrate, very short-jointed ; leaves elliptical-lan- 

 ceolate or narrowly oblong, thickened, glaucous ; the sheaths larger in propor- 

 tion ; fruit longer than the calyx, smooth, (f) (P. maritimum, Ray, &c. P. 

 glaucum, Nutt. P. Roberti, Lois.) Sandy sea-beach, Rhode Island to Vir 

 ginia. Probably a mere state of P. aviculare altered by salt water. (Eu.) 



12. P, ramosissimum, Michx. Stems erect or ascending, much 

 branched (2 -4 high), rigid, many-striate ; leaves lanceolate or linear, tapering 

 into a petiole ; sheaths mostly short; flowers greenish- white (yellowish in drying); 

 stamens commonly 6 ; fruit smooth and shining, partly protruded from the calyx. 

 (1) Sandy shores and banks of streams, Michigan to Illinois ^and southward. 

 Salt marshes, Rhode Island, Olney. Aug. - Oct. Larger leaves 2' long. 



13. P. tenue, Michx. (SLENDER KNOTGRASS.) Stem slender, upright, 

 sparingly branched (6 r -12' high), sharp-angled; leaves sessile, narrowly linear, 

 very acute ; sheaths capillary fringed ; flowers greenish-white ; fruit smooth and 

 shining. i Dry soil, and rocky hills ; rather common. July - Sept. 



* # Flowers solitary from the amis of closely approximated or imbricated truncate 

 bracts, forming many-jointed terminal spikes : sheaths cylindrical, naked, entire. 



14. P. articulatum, L. (JOINT-WEED.) Stem upright, paniculately 

 branched (4' -12' high), slender; leaves linear-thread-form, deciduous; flow- 

 ers crowded in slender and spike-like panicled racemes, on recurved pedicels 

 twice the length of the joint-like bracts (bright rose-color) ; fruit smooth and 

 shining. Dry, sandy soil ; common along the coast, along all the Great 

 Lakes, and in intermediate places in New York. Aug. Singular for its many- 

 jointed spikes or racemes, which are l'-3' long; the lower bracts tooth-pointed 

 on one side. Not a Polygonella ! 



$ 5. TOVARIA, Adans. Calyx rather herbaceous (greenish), unequally 4-parted : 

 stamens 5 : styles 2, distinct, rigid and persistent on the smooth lenticular achenium 

 (cotyledons oblong, accumbent) : perennial : flowers loosely disposed in a naked long 

 and slender spike. 



15. P. VirgiNiaimui, L. Almost smooth ; stem angled, upright 

 (2 - 4 high) ; leaves ovate, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, round- 

 ed at the base, short-petioled, rough-ciliate (3' - 6' long) ; sheaths cylindrical, 

 truncate, hairy and fringed ; flowers 1-2 from each bract, somewhat curved, 

 the styles in fruit obliquely bent down, minutely hooked at the tip. Thickets 

 in rich soil ; common. Aug. 



$ 6. TINlARIA, Meisn. Calyx 5-parted (rarely 4-parted) : stamens mostly 8 : 

 styles or capitate stigmas 3, and achenium 3-sided, or, in No. 1 6, styles 2 and ache- 



