156 THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.. 



occurs on some of the middle western prairies. It is probably naturalized 

 from Europe. 



JOINTWEEDo 



Polygonclla inacrophylla. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Buckivkeat. Deep crimson. Scentless. Florida. September., October. 



Fhnvers : showy, small; growing profusely in raceme-like panicles. Calyx: 

 with five petal-like rounded sepals. Stamens: eight, included or slightly exser- 

 ted. Leaves: alternate; sessile; spatulate or ohlanceolate, rounded at the apex 

 and tapering at the base ; entire; parallel-veined ; smooth. Stcui: woody at the 

 base; jointed; deep red, or the young grovvth greenish. 



So gay and showy is this plant's spray of blood tinted blossoms that it 

 appears very handsome as it occurs in sandy soil along the coast of West 

 Florida. Made into a bouquet with the more fleecy and pure white bloom 

 of Eriogonum tomentosum, an effect is produced surprisingly beautiful to 

 those who know not the possibilities of the buckwheat family. 



P. Americana, southern jointweed which hardly occurs further north- 

 ward than Georgia, bears a fleecy spray of tiny white, or pink blossonis, 

 which in their racemes grow so closely that they make quite a fine showing. 

 The calyx, of a thing so small, is rather complicated, as the three inner seg- 

 ments have tiny cordate wings while the two outer ones, as they grow old, 

 become reflexed. The pedicels are very fine and the stamens mostly in- 

 cluded. About the growth of the plant there is a wiryness and its fine, 

 linear-spatulate stem leaves seldom more than half an inch long, produce 

 the effect of a pine-like, graceful foliage. The stems are inclined to scale 

 and are covered with a slight bloom. 



P. gracilis is found in old fields or dry pine barrens from Florida to 

 South Carolina. In appearance it is light and fluffy being much branched 

 above and bearing in a loose panicled raceme a number of small white, pink 

 or greenish flowers. Their sepals are all upright. The leaves are incon- 

 spicuous and linear while the closely jointed stems grow erectly. 



P. parvifblia an unusually handsome species bears also in a fleecy spray 

 tiny white, deep pink or even yellowish flowers, the outer sepals of which 

 are recurved. From the base it is profusely branched and the foliage is 

 sessile and spatulate. Through September it remains in bloom and clings 

 to the coast line in sandy soil. Near Palm Beach there is a spot where it 

 grows abundantly. 



