poltgonacejE. (buckwheat family.) 421 



oblong-lanceolate, rather obtuse, thickish, pale-green, the lowest often heart- 

 shaped at the base. — Wet swamps : common. 



*-* ++ Naturalized weeds : lower leaves mostly heart-shaped at the base. 



7. K. CRfsPUS, L. (Curled Dock.) Smooth; leaves with strongly wacy- 

 curled margins, lanceolate, acute, the lower truncate or scarcely heart-shaped at 

 the base ; whorls crowded in prolonged wand-like racemes, leafless above ; valves 

 round-heart-shaped, obscurely denticulate or entire, mostly all of them grain-bearing. 

 — A very common weed in cultivated and waste grounds. Stem 3° -4° high, 

 from a deep spindle-shaped yellow root. There is a hybrid of this with the 

 next. (Nat. from Eu.) 



8. R. OBTusir6Lius, L. (Bittek Dock.) Stem roughish ; lowest leaves 

 ovate-heart-shaped, obtuse, rather downy on the veins underneath, somewhat wavy- 

 margined, the upper oblong-lanceolate, acute ; whorls loose and distant ; valves ovate- 

 halberd-shaped, and with some sharp awl-shaped teeth at the base, strongly reticulated, 

 one of them principally grain-bearing. — Fields, &c. (Nat. from Eu.) 



9. K. coNOLOMEEiTus, Murray. (Smaller Green Dock.) Leaves ob- 

 long, pointed, slightly wavy-margined, the lower heart-shaped at the base ; whorls 

 distant, leafy ; pedicels very short ; valves linear-oblong, rather broader next the base ; 

 obtuse, entire, each bearing a single reddish grain. (R. acutus, Smith.) — Moist 

 places; sparingly introduced. (Nat. from Eu.) 



10. R. SANGufNEDS, L. (Bloody-veined Dock.) Leaves lanceolate, viavy- 

 margined, the lowest heart-shaped at the base ; whorls distant, in long and slender 

 leafless interrupted spikes ; pedicels very short ; valves narrowly oblong, obtuse, entire, 

 one at least grain-bearing ; veins of the leaf red, or, in var. vfEiDis, green. — 

 Waste and cultivated grounds. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Annuals, low: valves bearing long aums or bristles. 



11. R. maritimus, L. (Golden Dock.) Minutely pubescent, diffusely 

 branched ; leaves lance-linear, wavy-margined, the lower auricled or heart-shaped 

 at base ; whorls excessively crowded in leafy and compact or interrupted spikes ; 

 valves rhombic-oblong, lance-pointed, each bearing 2-3 long awn-like bristles 

 on each side, and a large grain on the back. (Also R. persicarioides, L.) — Sea- 

 shore, Virginia to Massachusetts: also Illinois and westward. — Plant 6' -12' 

 high ; remarkable for the crowded and almost orange-colored fruiting calyx, 

 the bristles usually longer than the width of the valves. (Eu.) 



§ 2. Sorrel. Flowers dioecious, small, in a terminal naked panicle : herbage sour : 

 some leaves halberd-shaped: smooth perennials, flowering in spring. 



12. R. EngelmAnni, Ledeb. Stem simple, l°-2° high; leaves nearly 

 as in the next ; pedicels jointed at or below the middle ; valves of the fruiting calyx 

 round-heaH-shaped, thin, finely reticulated, naked, many times larger than the 

 achenium. (R. hastulatus, Baldwin.) — S. W, Blinois, thence southward and 

 westward. 



13. R. Acetosella, L. (Field or Sheep Sorrel.) Low (6'-12'high) ; 

 leaves lance-halberd-form, at least those of the root, the narrow lobes entire ; 

 pedicels jointed with tlie flower ; valves scarcely enlarging in fruit, ovate, naked. — 



. An abundant weed in waste places and all sterile and worn fields. — The fertile 

 panicles usually turn reddish in summer. (Nat. from Eu.) 



