102 memoirs from the department of botany of columbia college. 



[Plate 38.] 

 38. Polygonum littorale Link. 



Pohjf/nmna littorale Link in Schrad. Journ. 1: 54 (1799); Persoon, Syn. 1: 439; 

 :Meisner in T>C. Prodr. 14 : 98. 



Poh/i/ornnn salsiigino.vnn Wallroih, Linnaea, 14: 568 (1840). 



PoJijfjonvm (trienlare var. littorale Martens & Koch, Deutsche Fl. 3: 59 (1831). 



Pohjijoimm crnmvervc Cesati, Stirp. Ital. fas 2 (1840). 



Annual or perennial, glabrous, bright green, often glaucous. Stem prostrate, 3-12 

 dm. long, diffusely branched from the woody base and throughout, conspicuously ridged, 

 internodcs often very short, especially at the ends or bases of branches, the whole plant 

 sometimes dwarfed and reduced to a small, erect form less than 1 dm. long and simple or 

 sparingly branched ; leaves oblong, oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate, .4-2 cm. long, .1-6 

 cm. broad, usually obtuse or sometimes acutish, generally acuminate at the base, crowded 

 or distant, conspicuously ner\'ed, often crisped, short>petioled ; petioles articulated at their 

 junction with the ocreae ; ocreae oblique, 4-5 mm. long, two-parted and silvery when 

 young, at length lacerate and brownish; inflorescence axillary, consisting of clusters with 

 from two to six flowers ; calyx mostly green, five-parted to below the middle, the seg- 

 ments oblong, obtuse, with Avhite borders or sometimes red; stamens eight, included; 

 style .2 mm. long, three-parted to the base, included; achene tiiquetrous, 2-2.5 mm. long, 

 broadly ovoid, usually somewhat constricted and often conspicuously so below the sum- 

 mit, enlarged and rounded at the base, dark brown, more or less granular, mostly dull, 

 sometimes shining. 



From New Brunswick to British Columbia southward to Virginia, Illinois, Kansas 

 and California. Also in Europe. 



Polygonum littorale Sitchense Small. 



Polijfjovnm avini.lare var. latifolium Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 237 (1803), according 

 to Bongard, but doubtful. 



Pohjfjoimm ha.dfoliuiib Nuttall; Bongard, Veg. Ins. Sitcha, 161 (1831), not Bieb. 



Polygonum uviciclare var. buxifolium Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 3: 532 (1847-1849). 



Stem stout ; leaves linear-oblong, obtuse at the apex, attenuate at the base, subsessile, 

 somewhat nerved ; flowers one to two at a node ; stamens five; achene triquetrous, some- 

 what exceeding the calyx, rather shining but somewhat granular. 



Island of Sitcha. 



