PERSICARIA FAMILY 



417 



ochreate stipules ; /lowers perft-cl. in spikes, racemes, or panicles ; 

 periantli deeply 5-cleft, the 3 outer segments sometimes enlarging 

 in the fruiting stage ; stamens 5 — 8, with versatile anthers ; ova)y 

 compressed or 3-sided ; slyles 2 — 3 ; fruit not winged ; embryo 

 lateral ; cotyledons thin, ilat. (Name from ihe Greek poh'is, many, 

 goini, knee, from the many knee-like nodes.) 



■■■ Twilling plants : leaves sagittate ; flowers in raeemes ; stamens 8 ; 

 styles 3, united : nut ysided 



1. P- Coinn'tlvulus (Black Bindweed, Climlyng Buckwheat, or 

 i'ersicaria). — A mis- 

 chievous weed with a y. i ff-t^ 

 the habit of the Field 

 Convolvulus (Con- 

 volvulus arvensis), 

 twining round the 

 stems of other plants 

 and strangling them ; 

 leaves cordate-sagit- 

 tate; fl,owers greenish- 

 white, in erect, slen- 

 der, axillary and ter- 

 minal racemes, bear- 

 'ng 4 — lo-flowered 

 clusters ; outer peri- 

 anth-segments bluntly 

 keeled, green with 

 white margins : fruit 

 rather rough. — Culti- 

 vated ground; abund- 

 ant. — V\. (ulv — Sep- 

 tember. Annual. 



2. F. dumetorum 

 (Copse Buckwheat). 

 — A similar but more 

 luxuriant species, 

 climbing to a height of 4 or 5 feet : flower-stalks more slender : outer 

 periantii-segments winged ; nut smooth and shining. — Bushy places 

 in the south of England ; rare. — Fl. July — September. Annual. 



** Mostly prostrate plants ; leaves narrow,; stipules silvery, 

 torn; flowers axillary, 1 — 3 togetlier ; stamens usually 8 ; styles 3 ; 

 nut Tf-sided 



3. P. aviculdre (Common Knot- grass). — A common weed 

 with branched stem, usually prostrate, but \"aryjng greatly in size, 



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POLYGONUM C0Xv6L^-rLrs {Ciin;'.': 



