29 POLYGONACE.E. Polygonum. 



slender exserted pedicels, often tinged with rose-color: stamens 5 to 8 : akene 

 smooth and shining, exceeding the sepals. — Bot. King Exp. 315. F. lorreyi, 

 Watson, Am. Naturalist, vii. 664. 



In the mountains of Northern California and Oregon, and eastward in the Walisatch and 

 Uintas {Watson) ; in the Sierra Nevada from the Yosemite Valley northward {^Torrcy, Lemmon) ; 

 on Mount St. Helena and Scott Mountai)is, Greene. 



.^ H_ Branches slender and virgate, angled, terminating in more or less ojyen 

 .spikes, the narroiv leaves diminishing upivard and becoming bract-like. 



7. P. ramosissimum, Michx. Erect or ascending, usually 2 to 4 feet high, 

 often hrancliiim only alinve, glabrous, the whole plant yellowish : sheaths loose and 

 scarious, bccuuTing lact-rate to the base : leaves lanceolate to linear, 1 to 2| inches 

 long, acute, attenuate to a slender base : flowers and fruit as in F. erectum, 1 or 2 

 line's long, erect, the sepals more frequently 6, stamens 3 to 6, and akene usually 

 smooth and shining. — Meisner, DC. Prodr. xiv. 97. 



In the lower Sierra Nevada, ranging northward to the Columbia and across the continent, more 

 common east of the mountains. 



8. P. tenue, Michx. Erect and slender, | to 1 J- feet high, glabrous and some- 

 what glaucous, .sometimes slightly scabrous at the nodes : sheaths with a close some- 

 what herbaceous base, sparingly scarious and lacerate above : leaves linear to lan- 

 ceolate, an inch or two long, acute at each end and often cuspidate, obscurely 

 3-nerved, usually much reduced above : flowers often solitary and usually distant, 

 soon reflexed, 1 to li or 2 lines long, the sepals margined with white or rose-color: 

 stamens 8 : styles a third as long as the ovary : akene ovate, black and shining. — 

 Meisner, 1. c. 100 ; Watson, 1. c. 



In the Cuyamaca Mountains {Palmer) and Sierra County {Lemmon) ; very common ea.stward, 

 from British Columbia to iirizona, and across the continent. A broader leaved form occ^urs, often 

 low (var. hiiifolium, Eiigelm.), and also a low slender variety with minute flowers and fruit (var. 

 microspenninii, Engelm.). 



9. P. coarctatum, Dougl, Eesembling the last in habit, but scabrous-puberu- 

 lent anil the stems often brown : sheaths with a short mostly scarious base and a 

 more conspicuous lacerate summit: leaves hnear, l-]ierved, acute: flowers more 

 crowded and usually erect, the perianth more colored, rose-color or white : styles as 

 long as the ovary. — Meisner, 1. c. 101 ; Watson, 1. c. 665. 



Near Borax Lake {Tormj) and Donner Lake {Lemmon), and northward to the Britisli 

 boundary. 



* :^ * Anmmh, low and sle7ider : floivers in shoH dense spikes, with imbricated 

 bracts : sepals colored, appressed : leaves linear. 



10 P imbricatum, Nutt. Stems 1 to 8 inches high, smooth or slightly sca- 

 brous at the nodes, somewhat angled, often diffusely branched : sheaths rather large, 

 2-parted or lacerate above the short scarious base : leaves a half to an inch long, 

 acute, 1 -nerved : bracts loosely imbricated, linear or oblong, acute, 2 to 4 lines long, 

 with sometimes a narrow scarious margin : flowers nearly sessile, a line long or less, 

 rose-colored or white : stamens 3 or 5 : styles a third as long as the ovary : akene 

 three fourths of a line long, minutely tuberculate-striate or smoothish. — Watson, 

 1. c. 665. 



Frequent in the mountains, alpine and sub-alpine, from Donner Lake {Torrey) to the Columbia 

 Eiver, and eastwai-d to Colorado. It has usually been referred to P. coarctatum. 



11. P. polygaloides, ^leisnor, 1. c. Spikes closer, the closely imbricated bracts 

 oblong t(. nearly ..rl)ii-ular, with broad scarious margins, mostly obtuse : stamens 8 : 

 styles as long as the ovary. — Watson, 1. c. 



Oregon and Central Idaho, collected by Spalding, Pickering, and Hoivell, probably to be found 

 in Northern California. 



