Dicotyledones. 35 



fleshy disk ; anthers connected to the middle of the calyx lobes by tufts 

 of hairs. Globose fruit surmounted by the persistent calyx. 



I. Comandra umbellita, Nutt. (L., umbella, a little sunshade.) Bastard 

 Toadflax. Stems slender and branched, from 6 to i8 inches tall. Leaves ses- 

 sile, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, somewhat acute at both ends, from 5 to i inch and 

 more long. Flowers in corymbose clusters near the summit of the plant. Fruit 

 globose. Dry grounds. 



.i. Comandra pillida, A. DC. (L., pallidus, pale.) Pale Comandra. 

 Leaves hnear or linear-lanceolate ; flowers corymbose-clustered. Fruit ovoid- 

 oblong. In dry soil. 



POLYGONACE.a!. Buckwheat Family. 



Shrubs or trees, herbs, and twining vines ; stems tumid at the nodes 

 and usually sheathed by the united stipules or ocres. Flowers small, 

 regular, and perfect, monoecious, dioecious, or polygamous ; inflorescence 

 various. Stamens 4-12, inserted on the base of the 3-6-lobed calyx. 

 Sepals sometimes petaloid, petals none. The superior ovary i-celled 

 with a single erect or pendulous ovule. Fruit usually a 3-angled achene. 



I. RUMEX. Dock or Sorrel. 

 (The ancient Latin name.) 



Annual or perennial herbs with grooved and usually branched stems 

 of various habits. Leaves entire, or undulate, flat or crisped ; ocreae 

 cylindrical and fugacious. Inflorescence of simple or compound racemes. 

 Calyx 6-parted, the inner 3 parts usually developing into wings in the 

 fruit. Stamens 6, style 3-parted. Flowers greenish, small, crowded in 

 panicled racemes. 



1. Rumex altissimus. Wood. (L., superlative of alius, high.) Tall or Peach- 

 leaved Dock. Perentiial. Stems simple or little branched, 2 to 4 feet tall. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, from 2 to 10 inches long. Flowers densely 

 whorled in open panicles. The 3 inner sepals forming the wings usually 

 i-tubercled. Pedicels about the length of the wings, and jointed below the middle. 

 Moist soil. 



2. Rumex cn'spus, L. (L., crw/aj, curled.) Curled Dock. Perennial. Stem 

 from I to 35 feet tall, simple or branched above. Leaves lanceolate, long-petioled, 

 3 to 12 inches long, crisped and wavy-margined. Flowers in loose whorls; pedi- 

 cels in fruit I2-2 times as long as the wing sepals. Wings with a tubercle. In 

 waste grounds. 



3. Rumex hastatulus, Baldw. (L., hastatus, armed with a spear.) Halberd- 

 leaved Sorrel. Stems simple, i to 2 feet high from a running rootstock. 

 Leaves halberd-shaped, z\ to 3 inches long. In pastures and waste places. 



