46 MEMOIES FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 



[Plate 10.] 

 10. Polygonum Portoricense Bertero. 



Polijguntnii acuriiinatum ^Nleisner, Monog. 78 (1826), not Humboldt, Bompland and 

 Kunth. 



Polygonum glahrum Chamisso & Schlechtendal, Linnaea, 3 : 46 (1828), not Willde- 

 now; ]\Ieisner, Monog. 78, and in DC. Prodr. 14: 114; Grisebach, Fl. Br. W. Ind. 161. 



Polygonum demiflorum ]\leisner in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 13 (1855), not Blume; Meis- 

 ner in DC. Prodr. 14: 121; Chapman, Fl. S. States, 388. 



Polygonwni Portoricense Bertero; Meisn. in DC. Prodr. 14: 121 (1856), as synonym. 



Polygouwni ilenaifiorum var. imherhe Meisner in DC. Prodr. 14 : 121 (1856). 



PoJygouuin Penmylvauicivm var. deudflorurn Wood, Am. Bot. and Fl. 283 (1873). 



Perennial, glabrous but more or less scurfy throughout. Stem erect, 8-13 dm. long, 

 branched, enlarged at the nodes, often of a dark brown color ; leaves lanceolate or nar- 

 rowly-lancocjlate, 3-25 cm. long, 1-4 cm. broad, acuminate at both ends, very obscurely 

 punctate, short-petioled ; midrilj broad and lateral nerves prominent or conspicuous 

 beneath ; petiole 1-2 cm. long ; ocreae cylindric, 2-4 cm. long, fringed with short bristles 

 when young, at length eciliate, sometimes hispid; inflorescence paniculate, more or 

 less compound, the ultimate divisions ending in spicate often geminate racemes; 

 racemes linear, 2-11 cm. long, erect, dense; ocreolae funnelform, about 3 mm. long, 

 oblique, narrow, obtuse or acute, with a membranous rim; pedicels 3-3.5 mm. long; 

 calyx white or whitish, about 3 mm. long, five-parted to near the base ; stamens six, 

 sometimes eight, included; style 1.5 mm. long, two-parted or three-parted to below the 

 middle, somewhat exserted; achene lenticular or triquetrous, 2.5 mm. long, very broadly 

 oljlong or nearly obicular, sometimes slightly obovoid and broader than high, strongly 

 biconvex, black, smooth and shining or sometimes minutely granular. 



Southern ^Missouri to Texas and Florida, also in the West Indies and South America, 

 except the extreme south. 



