PKRSICARIA FAMn.\" ^ig 



branched : leaves lanceolate, flat, with minute warts, often with a 

 purplish-black blotch in the centre, more or less hairy on both 

 sides ; stipules loose, much fringed ; iio'cers in a short, dense, 

 erect, cylindrical spike, red or white ; pediiih'le smooth ; stamens 

 5 — S ; styles 2 — 3, united for half their length. — "\^'aste and damp 

 ground ; abundant. — Fl. July — October. Annual. 



10. P, lapatlnjoliuui (Pale-flowered Persicaria). — A closely allied 

 species ; stem sometimes red or spotted, swollen at the nodes : 

 leairs lanceolate, acuminate, smooth or do\^Tly, sometimes with a 

 black blotch above, or glaucous below ; stipules close to the stem, 

 with little or no fringe ; flowers pale, in axillary or terminal, 

 cylindric spikes ; peduncle rough ; stamens 5 — 6 ; styles 2, dis- 

 tinct. — Waste and damp places; common. — Fl. July — September. 

 vVnnual. 



u. P. maeiildtiiiu (Spotted Persicaria). — Smaller than the pre- 

 ceding, often prostrate, with very thick nodes ; leaves lanceolate, 

 tapering much at both ends, wavy, generally blotched, white and 

 woolly beneath, with loose, shortly fringed stipules ; spikes some- 

 times interrupted ,; peduncle rough ; styles connected below. 

 — Damp gravelly places ; not common. — Fl. July — September. 

 Annual. 



12. P. amphibiu.m (Amphibious Persicaria). — Assuming such 

 different forms when growing in the water and on land that they 

 might well be taken for two distinct species^ It has a slender, 

 wood}', branched rhizome creeping in the mud, with brauciies about 

 a foot high and erect, if on land, with sub-sessile, lanceolate hairy 

 leaves, or with floating stems 2 — 3 feet long, if, on water, supported 

 by long-stalked, iloating, oblong, smooth leaves ; flowers rose- 

 coloured, in handsome oblong spikes : stamejis 5, with exserted 

 anthers ; styles 2, united for half their length : fruit flattened. — 

 Ditches and banks of pools : common. — Fl. July — September. 

 Perennial. 



**'■* Plants with rhizomes : erect, unbranched stems ; terminal , 

 spil;edike racemes ; stamens S ; stvles 3 ; nut ysided 



13. P. Bistorta (Ijistort, Snakeweed, Snake-root). — A rather 

 handsome plant, with a large, woody, twisted rhizome, and several 

 erect, smiple steins i — ij foot high; leaves ovate, the radical ones 

 on winged petioles and glaucous beneath ; flowers ■pink, in terminal, 

 cvlindrical, dense spikes. — Moist meadow.s' : frequent. The 

 English names Bistort (twice twisted) and Sn'ahe-root allude to the 

 form of the rhizome. It forms large circular patches in meadows, 

 and also occurs in old-fashioned g.ardens, ^where its astringent 

 rhizome was once grown as a medicine. The green shoots are 

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