Humex.'} 



LXXII. POLYGONACE^ 



367 



.r: 





flowers, and fruit, and from P. Persicaria by the lax spikes and 

 slightly wrinkled achenes. Flowers red. 



14 P. minus Huds. (small creeping P.) ; stamens 6, styles 2 

 combined to above the middle, spikes slender lax erect pedun- 

 des smooth, perianth without glands, achene lenticular-com- 

 pressed smooth and shining, leaves Imear-lanceolate plane 

 very shortly petiolate, stipules ciliated without glands, ii. ±1- 

 t. 1043. 



On sravellv, watery commons ; about London, and in Worcester- 

 shire, Cheshire, and Lancashire. Very rare in Scotland. Near Cork, 

 Ireland. 



0. 8, 9. 



icashire. Very rare in K5Couanu. i^tai v^unv, 

 Ireland. W o, ^.-Allied to P. Hydropiper, but much smaller, 

 usually procumbent and rooting at the base, with upright spikes, 

 narrower leaves, and nearly undivided stigmas. 



15 P. Hydropiper L. {biting P.) ; stamens 6, styles 2 nearly 

 distinct, spikes lax filiform at first drooping, peduncles smooth, 

 perianth glandular, achene lenticular-compressed dotted opaque, 

 leaves lanceolate waved, stipules mostly with scattered glands 

 shortly fringed. JE. B. t. 989. 



Frequent by the sides of lakes and ditches. 0. 8, 9.— Stem 

 ] _ 3 feet high, erect. Remarkable for its slender, long, more or less 

 drooping spikes of distant, reddish flowers ; they are lateral and ter- 

 minal, and are sometimes at length erect. 



2. RuMEX Linn. Dock and Sorrel. 



Perianth 6-partlte : the 3 inner segments (of the fruit) large, 

 connlvent. Stam.Q. Styles ^ : stigmas m^AM. Achene ixi- 

 quetrous, covered by the enlarged inner sepals, which otten 

 hear tubercles.— Name of unknown origin. 



• Plants not acid. Flowers perfect, or moncecious. Lapathum. Dock. 



1. E. Hydroldpathum Huds. {great Water D.) ; enlarged 

 sepals ovate-deltoid reticulated entire each with a tubercle, 

 leaves lanceolate the lower ones cordate at the base, petiole fiat 

 not margined above, whorls crowded mostly leafless. K. aqua- 

 ticus Sm. : E. B. t. 2104. 



Ditches and river-sides, frequent in England, rare in Scotland. 11 . 

 7, 8. — The largest of our Docks, 3—5 feet high ; some of the lower 

 leaves \\ ft. long. Root large, very astringent. Enlarged sepals 

 with prominent veins, and large oblong tubercles. 



2. R. crispus L. {curled D.) ; enlarged sepals broadly cordate 

 entire or crenulate reticulated, one principally with a perfect 

 large tubercle, leaves lanceolate waved acute, upper whorls 

 leafless. E. B. t. 1998. ' 



Way-sides and near houses, pastures, &c., frequent. %. 6 'O. 

 Stem 2 or 3 feet high. Lower leaves the broadest, all waved and 



R 4 



