54 memoirs from the department op botany of columbia college. 



[Plate 14.] 

 14. Polygonum lapathifolium Linnaeus. 



Polygonum lapathifolium Linnaeus, Sp. PL 360 (1753); Aiton, Hort. Kew, 2: 30; 

 Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 2: 637; Persoon, Syn. 1: 439; Muhlenberg, Cat. 40; Eaton, Man. 

 370; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 257; Torrey, Fl. 1: 404, Comp. 172; Meisner in Mart. Fl. 

 Bras. 5: 16, in DC. Prodr. 14: 119; Beck, Bot. 302; Eaton & Wright, N. A. Bot. Ed. 

 8, 367; A. Gray, Man. 387; Gay, Fl. Chil. 5: 267; Wood, CI. Bk. Ed. 41, 474. 



Polygonum Pennsijlmnicinn Curtis, Fl. Lond. t. 73 (1777), not Linnaeus. 



Polygonum Persicaria ^^ar. lapathifolium Meisner, Monog. 69 (1826). 



Polygonum incarnatum Wood, CI. Bk. Ed. 41, 474 (1855). 



Annual, stout, glabrous or more or less pubescent throughout. Stem mostly erect, 

 3-6 dm. long, branched above or throughout, sometimes nearly simple, thickened at the 

 nodes; peduncles and pedicels more or less glandular; leaves varying from broadly 

 lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, sometimes oblong-lanceolate, 5-20 cm. long, .5-5 cm. 

 broad, attenuate towards the apex from the broadest part, acuminate at the base, ciliate, 

 inconspicuously but thickly punctate, short-petioled ; petiole and midrib slightly hispid, 

 the latter and lateral nerves prominent beneath; ocreae cylindric, 1-2 cm. long, loose, 

 striate or ribbed, thin, brittle, slightly ciliate when young, at length eciliate ; inflorescence 

 paniculate, more or less compound, the ultimate divisions ending in spicate racemes; 

 i-acemes linear-oblong or almost linear, 2-8 cm. long, mostly drooping, dense ; ocreolae 

 funnelform, 2 nun. long, very oblique, acute ; pedicels 2-3 mm. long ; calyx flesh-colored 

 or whitish, 2-2.5 mm. long, five-parted to below the middle; stamens six, included; 

 style 1-1.5 mm. long, two-parted or three-parted to below the middle, included; achenes 

 lenticular or rarely triquetrous, 2-2.5 mm. long, very Ijroadly oblong or broadly ovoid, 

 biconcave, brownish or black, slightly granular but usually shining. 



Throughout North America except the extreme north, Mexico, Central America 

 and the West Indies. Apparently introduced from Europe. 



Polygonum lapathifolium incanum (Schmidt) Koch. 

 Polygonum incanum Schmidt, Fl. Boem. 4 : 90 (1795). 

 Polygonum Persicaria var. incanum Meisner, Monog. 68 (1826). 



