poltgonacejE. (buckwheat family.) 873 



* * Sheaths ciliate or fiinged with bristles. 

 •>- Boot annual: stamens 6 - 8 : styks most commonly 2 : achenium mostly flat. 



6. P. Careyi, OIney. Stem much branched, upright (3° -5° high), yfen- 

 dular-bristly ; leaves lanceolate, bristly on the midrib and margins ; spikes eLon- 

 gated, cylindrical, drooping, on long bristly.glandular peduncles, rather dense (l'-4' 

 long); stamens 6-8; style 2-parted; fruit lenticular, tumid, very smooth and 

 shining. — Shaded swamps, Vermont to Mass. and Eliode Island, and doubtless 

 westward. Aug., Sept. — Leaves 4' -10' long, roughish. Plowers rose-purple, 

 somewhat tinged with green. 



7. P, PuBSiciEiA, L. (Lady's Thumb.) Stem smooth (12'- 18' high); 

 leaves lanceolate, pointed, roughish, usually marked with a dark triangular or lunar 

 spot near the middle ; spikes ovoid or oblong, dense, erect, on smooth (or at least not 

 glandular) peduncles (1' long); stamens mostly 6; styles half 2 - S-cleft ; fruit 

 gibbous-flattened or rarely triangular, smooth and shining. (J) — Waste and 

 damp places; very common. July, Aug. — Flowers green ish-puiple. Plant 

 not acrid. (Nat. from Eu. ) 



8. P. HydkopIpee, L. (Smakt-weed.) Smooth (10-2° high), very 

 acrid; leaves lanceolate, pellucid-dotted; spikes slender, but short, loosely flowered, 

 greenish, drooping ; calyx dotted with pellucid glands ; stamens mostly 6 ; styles 

 2 - 3-parted ; fruit minutely striate, dull or little shining, flat or flattish, or ob- 

 tusely triangular. — Moist or wet grounds, mostly in waste places. Aug., Sept. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



■<- ■"- Root perennial (or mostly so) : stamens 8 : styles 3 : achenium sharply triangu- 

 lar, smooth and shining. (Steins often decumbent or creeping at the base and rooting 

 from the joints: spikes few or single.) 



9. P. ikcre, H. B. K. (Wild Smakt-weed.) Smooth, or nearly so (1° 

 -3° high) ; leaves lanceolate, pcHwctd-rfottcd ; spikes very slender, erect, interrupted 

 below, whitish or flesh-color ; calyx dotted with pellucid glands ; style 3-parted. 

 (P. punctatum, Ell. P. hydropiperoides, Pursh. ) — Wet places ; common, es- 

 pecially southward. 



10. P. hydropiperoides, Michx. (Mild Watek-Peppbe.) Stem 

 smooth (l°-3° high), the narrow sheaths hairy, fringed with rather long bris- 

 tles ; leaves roughish or ajrpressed-puhescent, not acrid, narrowly lanceolate, tapering 

 to both ends; spikes rather slender, erect (l'-2^' long), rose-color; calyx not glan- 

 dular-dotted; style half 3-cleft. (P. mite, Pers., not of Schrank.) — Wet places, 

 and in shallow water ; common, especially southward. Aug. 



§ 4. AVICULARIA, Meisn. — Calyx more or less petal Aike, 5-parted: stamens 8, 

 sometimes 3 - 6 ; iAe filaments awl-skaped, 3 of them broader at the base : stigmas 

 3, globose, nearly sessile : achenium 3-sided (cotyledons incumbent : albumen homy) : 

 commonly annuals, smooth and axillary, vnth small leaves : flowers sometimes crowd- 

 ed in interrupted spikes along the leafless summit of the branches. 



# Flowers truly axillary, 2-3 together, or rarely solitary : sheaths usually 2 - 3-parted 

 and cut-fringed or torn. 



11. P. aviCMlare, L. (Knotgrass. Goose-grass. Dock-weed.) 

 Prostrate or spreading ; leaves sessile, lanceolate or oblong, pale ; flowers apparently 



32 



