BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonacese. 



Another weed from the old country, 

 common in fields and waste places. A 

 loose and thinly flowered spike ; the stem 

 rough and stout and the somewhat wavy 

 leaves oblong and wider than those of 

 the other species. The seed- wings with a few spines on 

 either side. 2-4 feet high. Me., south, and west to 

 Ore. 



Bitter Dock 



Ruinex obtusl 

 folius 

 Green 

 June-August 



Golden Dock 



Rvtnex lyersi- 

 rarioideti 

 Green 

 July-October 



A sea-shore species, an annual ; with 

 light green, narrow, lance-shaped leaves, 

 the plant more or less woolly, and greatly 

 branched, the circles of the flowers 

 crowded together into a compact spike, 

 the seed-wings narrow and pointed, golden yellow in 

 autumn, bearing 2-3 long spines on either side. In the 

 sand along the shores. Me., south to Va., and from 

 Kan. and Minn., west and north. It has been confused 

 with R. maritimus of the old countrj-. 



A most troublesome small weed from 

 the old world, with long-arrowhead- 

 shaped leaves, acid to the taste, and in- 

 conspicuous flowers in branching spikes, 

 green, or later brown-red; the whole plant 

 sometimes turning ruddy in dr}', sterile 

 fields. It will generally flourish in one 

 place for two or three jears and then die 

 out. The flowers are dioecious, that is, the staminate 

 and pistillate ones are found upon separate plants, and 

 are therefore fertilized by insects ; bumblebees, honey- 

 bees, and the smaller butterflies are the commonest 

 visitors. 6-12 inches high. Growing everywhere. 



The genus Polygonum, the name from TroAtis, many, 

 and yovvy knee, alluding to the many joints of the 

 plants, comprises about twenty-five distinct species, all 

 of which may be characterized by the term weed ! They 

 are aesthetically uninteresting and many are extremely 

 troublesome in the farmer's vegetable garden. They 

 mostly bear pink perfect flowers grouped in a slender 

 grasslike spike. 



Field or Sheep 

 Sorrel 



Rumex Aceto- 

 se.lla 



Green, Brown= 

 red 

 June- 

 September 



[o4 



