90 MEMOIES FEOM THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 



[Plate 32.] 

 32. Polygonum orientale Linnaeus. 



Polygonum orientale Linnaeus, Sp. PL 362 (1753); Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 2: 638; Per- 

 soon, Syn. 1 : 440; Muhlenberg, Cat. 40; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 272; Eaten, Man. 371; 

 Elliott, Bot. S. C. and Ga. 1 : 457; Barton, Comp. Fl. Phil. 188; Sprengel, Syst. 2 : 257; 

 Torrey, Fl. 1: 405, Comp. 173, FL N. Y. 2 : 146; Meisner, Monog. 53 and in DC. Prodr. 

 14: 123; Beck, Bot. 302; Darlington, Fl. Cest. 251; Eaton & Wright, N. A. Bot. Ed. 8, 

 368; A. Gray, Man. 386; Wood, CI. Bk. Ed. 41, 475, Am. Bot. and FL 283; Chapman, 

 Fl. S. States, 388 ; Darby, Bot. S. States, 489. 



^Vnnual, large, more or less hispid. Stem stout, erect, 4-25 dm. tall, terete, becom- 

 ing woody below, branching above; leaves ovate or broadly oblong, 6-25 cm. long, 1.5- 

 15 cm. broad, acuminate, varying from acute to cordate at the base, ciliate, hispidulous 

 on the midrib and its lateral branches on both surfaces ; petioles 2-8 cm. long, slightly 

 winged ; ocreae cylindric or funnelform at branching nodes, 1-3 cm. long, loose, with or 

 without a spreading border at the summit, ciliate ; inflorescence paniculate, the ultimate 

 di\'isions ending in spicate more or less geminate racemes ; racemes varying from oblong 

 to Hnear, 3-1 cm. long, drooping or sometimes suberect, often slightly interrupted near 

 the base; ocreolae funnelform, 3-5 mm. long, very oblique, ciliate; pedicels slender, 5 

 mm. long; calyx dark rose-colored, 4-4.5 mm. long, five-cleft to or below the middle; 

 stamens se^-en, exserted or included; style about 1 mm. long, two-cleft to above the 

 middle, ending in two large stigmas, included ; achene lenticular, 3 mm. long, orbicular 

 or broader than high, thickened laterally about the base, biconcave, minutely granular 

 and rather dull. 



A native of India. Naturalized in waste places. 



