Polyyonum.] OCTANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 163 



Moist ground and waste places, frequent. Fl. Aug. 0. — Stems 

 erect, branched, 1 — 2 feet high. Spikes terminal and lateral, dense, 

 greenish, the tips of ihe Jloivers rose-coloured. Leaves nearly sessile, 

 glabrous ; but there are said to be varieties with hoary leaves.' 



11. P. lapathifolium, L. {^pale-flowered Persicaria); flowers 

 hexandrous with 2 distinct styles, leaves ovato-lanceolate shortly 

 petiolate, spikes oblong erect their peduncles rough, stipules not 

 fringed. E. Bot. t. 1382. 



Fields and dunghills, frequent. Fl. Aug. ©. — 1 — H ft. high. A 

 very variable species ; but the above characters, so ably pointed out by 

 Mr Curtis, as distinguishing it from P. Persicaria, are constant. Some- 

 times the stem is spotted, and sometimes the lenf'xs hoary. The flowers 

 are either pale green, almost white, or of a reddish tint. Spikes dense, 

 terminal and lateral. 



12. P. mite, Schrank, {lax-Jloivered Persicaria); flowers hex- 

 androus without glands, styles forked, leaves lanceolate, stipules 

 hairy with long cilia?, spikes lax filiform drooping. — P. laxi- 



Jlorum, Weihe. — P. Braunii, Bluff and Fingerh. — P. Hydro- 

 piper, var. Curt. 



About London; Lagasca, and Mr Borrer. Near Cambridge. .Mr 

 Babinyton. Fl. Aug. © . — Allied to the following, differing from it chiefly 

 in the absence of glands to the flowers, and from P. minus, in the greater 

 size, broader leaves, and larger flowers and fruit. Flowers red. 



13. P. Hydropiper, L. (bititig Persicaria); flowers hexandrous 

 glandular, styles forked, leaves lanceolate waved and spotless, 

 stipules with short cilijfi, spikes lax filiform drooping, stem erect. 

 E. Bot. t. 989. 



Frequent by the sides of lakes and ditches. Fl. Aug. Sept. . — 1 — 3 

 feet high, erect. Remarkable for its slender, long, more or less droop- 

 ing spikes of distant, xeA6.\i\\ flowers ; they are lateral and terminal. 



14. P. minus, Huds. (small creeping Persicaria); flowers hex- 

 androus without glands, style nearly undivided, leaves linear- 

 lanceolate plane very shortly petiolate, stipules with long cilise, 

 spikes slender erect, stem rooting at the base. E. Bot. t. 1043. 



On gravelly, watery commons ; about London, Worcestershire, Che- 

 shire and Lancashire. Moist fields round Forfar. Near Cork, Ireland. Fl. 

 Sept. . — Allied to P. Hijdropiper ; but much smaller, procumbent be- 

 low, with upright spikes, narrower leaves, and nearly undivided stigmas. 



1 Mr Borrer suggests that there should be inserted between P. Persicaria 

 and P. lapathifolium, as re-uniting these two, if not itself a species, 



P. laxum, ( tieioh.) ; " hexandrous semidigyiious, stem ascending, leaves lan- 

 ceolate slightly waved, stipules with slender ciliae those of the flowers horned, 

 spikes (thyrsi) slender crowded, peduncles and petioles strigoso-hispid. Reich. 

 Jconogr. Bot. t. 492.— Watery places, probably common. Sussex, Essex. Mr 



Borrer. Reichenbach himself seems disposed to consider it a hybrid, and 



Mertens and Koch remark, that they have seen forms of P. lapathifolium, 

 closely resembling this. 



