80 MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 



[Plate 27.] 



27. Polygonum hydropiperoides Michaux. 



Pohjgomirnbarbatum W&lter, Fl. Car. 131 (1788)? not Linnaeus; Muhlenbeirg, Cat. 

 40; Elliott, Bot. S. C. and Ga. 1 : 456; Sprengel, Syst. 2: 253; Eaton & Wright, N. A. 

 Bot. Ed. 8, 368. 



Polygonum hydropiperoides Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 239 (1803) ; Pursh, Fl. Am. 

 Sept. 270; Meisner, in ]\Iart. Fl. Bras. 5 : 17 and in DO. Prodr. 14 : 103; Bigelow, Fl. Bost. 

 1: 156; A. Gray, Man. 387; Chapman, Fl. S. States, 389; Wood, Am. Bot. and FL 283. 



Polygonum mite Tersooii., Syn. 1: 446 (1805), not Schrank; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 

 270; Eaton, Man. 371; Elliott, Bot. S. C. and Ga. 1:456; Torrey, Fl. 1:402, Comp. 

 172, Fl. N. Y. 2: 150; Meisner, Monog. 75 and in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5: 17, as synonym; 

 Sprengel, Syst. 2 : 253 ; Darhngton, Florula Cest. 48, Fl. Cest. 249 ; Beck, Bot. 301 ; Eaton 

 & Wright, N. A. Bot. Ed. 8, 367; Wood, CI. Bk. Ed. 41, 474; Darby, Bot. S. States, 489. 



Polygonum virgatum Chamisso & Schlechtendal, Linnaea, 3: 45 (1828); Gay, Fl. 

 Chil. 5 : 268. 



Polygonum hydropiperoides var. virgatum Meisner in Mart. Fl. Bras. 5:17 (1855) and 

 in DC. Prodr. 14: 103. 



Perennial, glabrous or sometimes slightly strigillose, often tinged with red through- 

 out. Stem erect or the base decumbent and creeping, 3-9 dm. long, nearly simple or 

 branched above, glabrous or somewhat strigillose about the bases of the ocreae, enlarged 

 at the nodes; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sometimes linear-lanceolate, 4-13 

 cm. long, .3-1.8 cm. broad, glabrous especially above or obscurely strigillose, acute at 

 both ends, ciliate, papillose on the lower surface, arising from the base of the ocreae, 

 short^petioled, the midrib clothed Avith short hairs; ocreae cylindric or funnelform at 

 branching nodes, 1-1.8 cm. long, loose, strigose, fringed with long bristles; inflorescence 

 paniculate, nearly simple or more or less compound, the ultimate divisions ending in 

 spicate somewhat geminate racemes; racemes narrowly cylindric or almost linear, 3-6 cm. 

 long, erect, more or less interrupted; ocreolae funnelform, 2.5-3 mm. long, oblique, 

 fringed with short bristles ; pedicels 2-3 mm. long ; calyx about 2 mm. long, flesh-colored 

 or sometimes greenish, five-parted to below the middle, the segments oblong or obovate, 

 obtuse or acutish, glandular ; stamens eight, included ; style less than 1 mm. long, three- 

 parted to below the middle, at length protruding beyond the calyx ; achene triquetrous, 

 about 3 mm. long, ovoid or broadly oblong, pointed at the apex, black, smooth and shining. 



Now Brunswick to California, south to Florida and Mexico. Also in Brazil. 



