02 SIEMOIES FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 



[Plate 13.] 

 13. Polygonum acuminatum Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth. 



Polygonum acuminatum Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. 2: 178 (1817); 

 Sprengel, Syst. 2 : 256 ; Meisner, Monog. 78, Mart. Fl. Bras. 5 : 14. t. 4 and in DC. Prodr. 

 14: 114; Grisebach, FL Br. W. Ind. 161. 



Polygonum caspidatum Willdenow; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 256 (1825). 



Polygonum erectum Vellozo, Fl. Flum. 4: t. 4^ (1827)? 



Polygonum acuminatum var. HumboldtH Meisner in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5 : 14. t. 4. f. 1 



(1855). 



Perennial, stout, more or less strigose except the stem, leafy. Stem erect or ascend- 

 ing, 6 dm. long, glabrous below, strigose about the inflorescence, dark brown, somewhat 

 enlarged at the nodes, sometimes covered with the ocreae ; leaves lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, 6-30 cm. long, 1-4 cm. broad, acute or acuminate at both ends, usually 

 nearly sessile, strigose on both surfaces or rarely nearly glabrous, the midrib and lateral 

 nerves prominent beneath; ocreae cylindric, 2-4 cm. long, strigose, somewhat loose at 

 the summit, fringed with long stout more or less hispid bristles ; inflorescence paniculate 

 or nearly simple, the ultimate divisions ending in spicate sometimes geminate racemes ; 

 racemes dense, 4-10 cm. long; ocreolae bract-like, sometimes imbricated, 3 mm. long, 

 conspicuously fringed, sparingly pubescent; pedicels 3-4 mm. long; calyx white, 3 mm. 

 long, four or five-parted to near the base, the segments oblong or ovate, obtuse, not 

 punctate ; stamens fly^ to nine, mostly six, included ; style two-parted, exserted ; achene 

 lenticular, obovoid or oblong, 2-2.5 mm. long, thick-pointed, black, smooth and shining, 

 the faces strongly biconvex. 



The West Indies, Central and South America. Also in the Galapagos. 



