Polygonea^ FLORA OF TASMANIA. 305 
A curious little plant, very dissimilar in habit from any of its congeners, forming matted tufts of slender, leafy. 
branched stems, 1-2 inches long. Stems covered below with the wither. d leaf-sheaths. [MM closely imbricating, 
erecto-patent, i-§ inch long, lanceolate, acuminate, very concave, narrowed into a membranous, sheathing petiole. 
pilose above, glabrous on the back, margins with long cilia. Pethmdm pilose, hmgcr than the leaves. FUmtrt 
Obs. Plantago Coronopus, L. (Gunn, 1999), has been introduced into the iiei-rhhourh..od 
where it was found by Gunn in 1814, abundantly. It is also introduced into the Swan River Col 
known byit^ li d Lave-, very -tout, curved, a.-ccndin- peduncles, and dense cylin- 
drical spikes of flowers, with spuriously four-celled ovaries. 
Nat. Ord. LXIV. POLYGONEiE. 
In his excellent revision of this Order, which baa joai appeared in De Oandolle ' i ' Prodromus,' M. 
Meisner enumerates twenty-eight Australian species, all belonging to the genera liitmsx, I' 
Muehlenbeckia, of which the latter alone is more common in the southern than in the northern hemisphere; 
by much the larger proportion of these are confined to the south-east quarter of Australia and Tasmania, 
only two or three being found in the south-west. 
Gen. I. RUMi:\, I. 
Perianthium 6-partitum, foliolis biseriatis, 3 interioribus fructu auctis. Stamina 6, perianthii foliolis 
alterna. Ovarium 3-angulare. Stigmata 3. Nvx triquetra, perianthii laciniis interioribus aeutis valva •- 
formibus tecta. — Herbae; foliis integris ; stipulis ocreaforynibm ; floribus irregulariter pa >»■■ 
mosis ; floribus viridibus v. rubris. 
A very common European genus, also found in all other temperate regions, and in the tropics sparingly.— 
Herbs, with usually perennial roots, alternate leaves, with ocrcate stipules, and branched, panicled racemes of 
inconspicuous flowers. Perianth of six green or reddish leaflets, in two rows, imbricate. Stamen* six, alternate 
with the leaflets of the perianth. Ovary three-angled, with three styles and fimbriate stigmata. Nut pendulous 
from the curved pedicel, three-angled, enclosed in the appressed, greatly enlarged, inner leaflets of the perianth, 
which are often toothed or armed. (Name of unknown origin.) 
1. Rumex Brownii (Campd. Rum. 64); caule ramoso, intemodiis elongatis, Mis petiolatis e 
basi cuneata truncata v. subhastata elongato-lanceolatis obtusis acuminatisv, marginibus plank undulatisve, 
racemis indivisia elongatis aphyllis, verticillis remotis, pedicellis crassiusculis, valvis ovato-ellipticis subulato- 
acumiuatis ecallosis marginibus 3-5-spinosis, spinis elongatis hamatis.— Meisn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 6L 
R. fimbriatus, Br. Prodr. 421, turn Poir. {Gunn, 897.) 
Hab. Abundant in marshy places near Circular Head.— (Fl. Nov., Dec.) 
Distkib. New South Wales and Victoria. 
Stems sparingly or much branched, 1-3 feet high. Leaves petiolate : cauhne and radical similar, a span long. 
narrow-lanceolate, with a cuneate, truncate, or subhastate base, margin flat or crisped, point blunt or acuminate. 
Flowers whorled, in long racemes, hermaphrodite. Valves of the fruit elliptical-ovate, acuminate, cut at the margin 
into many long, hooked spines. 
2. Rumex bidens (Br. Prodr. 421) ; caule erecto simplici v. diviso, foliis elongato-lanceolatis aeutis 
obtusisve e basi ina pmlat, ra obtnsa subcordata v. attenuate marginibus planis crispatultsve sumims lmeari- 
bus, verticillis remotis inferioribus axillaribus, pedicellis medio articulatis apice mcrassatis, valvis majusculw 
