54 



THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. 



FAMILY COLOUR 



Buckwheat. Greenish. 



BRUNNICHIA. 



Brun7i\chia chirrhbsa. 



ODOUR RANGE 



Scentless. Florida to South Carolina 

 and northwestward. 



TIME OF BLOOM 



April-June. 

 Fruit: A ugust. 



Flowers : small ; clustered in long, slender racemes. Calyx : campanulate ; 

 five-parted, winged at the base ; persistent. Stamens : exserted. Fruil : oblong, 

 enclosed within the greatly enlarged calyx. Leaves: alternate, with slender 

 petioles, the ochreas obsolete or wanting ; ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; long pointed 

 at the apex and squared or sub-cordate at the base ; entire ; bright green and 

 glabrous above, slightly pubescent underneath. A much branched shrubby vine, 

 which climbs by means' of thread-like tendrils at the ends of the branches. Stem : 

 smooth ; grooved. 



Especially in fruit is this climber attractive, for in the season of flowers its 

 bloom is too insignificant to make much of a show. Along the banks of 

 streams it grows where it is often found climbing over shrubs close at hand. 



PENNSYLVANIA PERSICARIA. 



Polygon um Pe7tnsylvdnicinn. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR 



Buckwheat. Deep pink. Scentless. 



RANGE 



Texas and Florida 7iorth- 



ward and westward. 



TIME OF BLOOM 



July-September. 



Flmvers: growing in erect, panicled and bracted spikes, which are dense and 

 cylindrical; their peduncles having glands on their surfaces. Calyx: five-parted. 

 Stamens: eight, at most. Style: deeply two-cleft. Ac/iejics : lenticular; smooth. 

 Leaves : alternate ; petioled ;' and with cylindric ochreaes which are without bris- 

 tles ; lanceolate, long pointed at the apex and tapering at the base into the 

 petioles ; entire ; finely ciliate ; the upper ones rough and disagreeable to the 

 touch. Ste?ns : erect ; simple or branched ; glandular viscid above. 



The genus Polygonum is one that is very large and we see it abundantly 

 represented by such plants as the present one and the common smartweeds, 

 or knotweeds. As it has been divided into several sub-genera a few of the 

 most important representatives, serving as types of the sections and which 

 occur within our range, have been selected to be mentioned. There are of 

 course hosts of others. By the people they are not much regarded, being 

 scorned as common things unless as Polygonum punctatum they have some 

 reputed virtue. Its tiny white blossoms which emit a peculiar scent are made 

 into poultices, used to relieve sprains and bruises. Along the Tallyrand road 

 near Jacksonville, Fla., we found an old man gathering it for this purpose. 



That the genus is commonly called buckwheats is said to have originated 

 from the fact that the old Saxon word for beech is buck, and with the beech 

 the plants were associated because of a similarity in the triangular fruit of 

 certain of the species, 



