BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonaceae. 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonaceae. 



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A large family, widely distributed, mostly herbs or low 

 shrubs, with toothless leaves, often with stipules sheathing I 

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

 petals, the calyx usually resembles a corolla and has from j 

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

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

 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, j 

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

 grain resembles minute beech-nuts. There are several 

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

 Sorrel, and Smartweed. 



Chorizanthes are low herbs, with branching stems, r 

 without stipules, the leaves forming a rosette at the basej . 

 and withering early. The small flowers have six sepals j 

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

 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, making; \ 

 Turkish Rugging tt patches of purplish color on drjl 



Chonzanthe 



fimbri&ta mesas. The stiff, roughish, purplish steiri 



Pink is a few inches tall, springing from a fe^l 



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



ing abruptly and widely towards the tojl 

 and bearing many small flowers. The involucres an 

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

 bright-pink, prettily fringed with white and striped wit 

 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 colo 

 and form. C. staticoldes is similar, but the sepals are no 

 fringed. 



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