BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonaceae. 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonoceae. 



A large family, widely distributed, mostly herbs or low 

 shrubs, with toothless leaves, often with stipules sheathing 

 the swollen joints of the stem. The small flowers have no 

 petals, the calyx usually resembles a corolla and has from 

 three to six divisions. There are from four to nine stamens 

 and a superior, mostly triangular, ovary, with two or three 

 styles or stigmas, becoming a dry, one-seeded fruit, gener- 

 ally brown or black. The kind from which flour is made is 

 cultivated from northern Asia, and the name Buckwheat, 

 from the German, means "beech- wheat," because the 

 grain resembles minute beech-nuts. There are several 

 common "weeds" belonging to this family, such as Dock, 

 Sorrel, and Smartweed. 



Chorizanthes are low herbs, with branching stems, 

 without stipules, the leaves forming a rosette at the base 

 and withering early. The small flowers have six sepals 

 and are clustered in small heads, usually one flower in each 

 papery involucre, which has from two to six teeth, with 

 bristles at the tips; stamens usually nine, on the base of the 

 perianth ; styles three, with round-top stigmas. 



An odd, dry-looking plant, makings 

 Turkish Rugging tt patches of purp ii s h color on dryi 



Chonzanthe ^ *_ 



fimbritta mesas. The stiff, roughish, purplish stemi 



Piak is a few inches tall, springing from a few<| 



Spring dull-green or reddish root-leaves, branch- 



California ing a b rupt iy an( j widely towards the top; 



and bearing many small flowers. The involucres are 

 deep-red or purple, with very prickly teeth, the sepals 

 bright-pink, prettily fringed with white and striped with 

 deeper color, and the filaments are long and threadlike, 

 with purple anthers. The flowers are exceedingly pretty 

 when closely examined, though too small to be very effec- 

 tive, but the plant as a whole is conspicuous both in color 

 and form. C. staticoides is similar, but the sepals are not 

 fringed. 



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